Legal Question in Family Law in California

If my fiance and i get married in Canada (we are both US citizens) will California or the US consider us legally married when we come back? We want to be married but in order to protect my assets from his child support seeking ex i want to legally retain my "single" status. If it is considered a legal marriage here, is there any country the US will not acknowledge?


Asked on 7/20/10, 11:24 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Rhonda Ellifritz Law Offices of Rhonda Ellifritz

Without knowing the details of your situation, let me mention that Family Code section 4057.5 may exclude your income from even being considered (other than for taxes) for child support. You may want to at least have one consultation with an attorney to discuss your particular situation and how to best protect yourself.

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Answered on 7/21/10, 10:37 am

Ms. Beers is correct. Your assets are completely unavailable to satisfy child support obligations of a new spouse, and except for a very wealthy person living off assets instead of income, assets are never used in calculating support no matter who they belong to. Your income is not included in support calculations either, except as she says, to the extent it impacts taxes and withholding on his pay. Your income cannot be used to pay the support that will be calculated on his earnings either, if you deposit it in a separate account. So only his income counts, and only his separate accounts or joint accounts can be levied if he doesn't pay. Of course if he just pays on time the amount that is calculated on his income alone, that's not even an issue.

As for validity of marriage it makes no difference where you were married. As long as the marriage was legal and binding in the jurisdiction where it occured, with a few exceptions, it is valid and binding in every state of the US. The exceptions vary by state, but are always about marriages that would be void in the jurisdiction. For example, Prop. 8 not only banned same-sex marriages, but also made them invalid in California even if they were legal where they were performed. Some countries allow marriages between people of closer blood relation than allowed in the US, and most states will not recognize those marriages either.

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Answered on 7/21/10, 11:03 am
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

California recognizes marriages that are validly contracted elsewhere, unless the marriage violates some specific California law. (Such as bigamous marriage, marriage to a mule, etc.)

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Answered on 7/21/10, 5:57 pm


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