California marriage laws set a short list of requirements to get married and a long list of consequences that follow. Both parties must be at least 18 (minors need a court order), you must obtain a marriage license from any county clerk in the state, and an authorized officiant must perform the ceremony within 90 days. Once you are married, California treats most of what either spouse earns or buys as community property owned equally by both, and marriage triggers a package of state and federal rights covering support, taxes, healthcare, and Social Security.
Who Can Legally Marry
Two unmarried people aged 18 or older can marry in California so long as neither is disqualified by law, meaning already married to someone else or unable to consent.1California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 301 – Capacity to Consent to Marriage
A person under 18 can marry only after obtaining a court order granting permission. At least one parent or guardian of each underage party must give written consent, and both the court order and that consent have to be filed with the court clerk before a county clerk will issue a license.2California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 302 – Marriage of Minors Courts can require premarital counseling before signing off.
Getting a Marriage License
A California marriage is not valid without a license. You and your partner must appear together at a county clerk’s office and show valid photo ID that verifies your age, such as a driver’s license, passport, military ID, or resident alien card.3Sacramento County Clerk/Recorder. Getting Your Marriage License Fees vary by county and generally run between $35 and $100 for a public license.
You can apply in any California county, regardless of where you live or where you plan to hold the ceremony, and the license is good anywhere in the state. It expires 90 days after issuance. If you don’t marry within that window, you have to apply and pay again.
After the ceremony, the officiant has 10 days to return the completed, signed license to the county recorder that issued it, at which point it becomes the marriage certificate.4California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 423 – Return of Marriage License A late return does not invalidate the marriage, but it can make ordering certified copies later difficult.
Public vs. Confidential License
California offers a second type of license, the confidential marriage license, available to two unmarried adults who have been living together as spouses.5California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 500 – Confidential Marriage The legal rights and obligations are identical to a public marriage. The differences are procedural and privacy-related:
- No witness is required at the ceremony. A public marriage requires at least one witness, and no more than two may sign the license.6San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections. What Is the Difference Between a Confidential and a Public Marriage License
- Only the spouses themselves can obtain certified copies of the certificate.
- Both parties must declare under penalty of perjury that they have been cohabiting as spouses.
- Minors cannot use the confidential process at all.
The Ceremony and Officiant
California requires no particular form of ceremony. Both parties simply have to declare, in the physical presence of the officiant and any required witness, that they take each other as spouses.7California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 420 – Ceremony Requirements You can write your own vows or exchange consent in 30 seconds at the courthouse. Marriage by proxy is not allowed except in a narrow case involving active-duty military members stationed overseas in a conflict zone.
The list of authorized officiants is broad: any priest, minister, rabbi, or authorized person of a religious denomination who is at least 18; active or retired judges, magistrates, and commissioners of any California court, as well as federal judges; and current or former state legislators, members of Congress representing California, and current or former elected city or county officials.8California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 400 – Persons Authorized to Solemnize Marriage A religious officiant is not required to perform any marriage that conflicts with their faith.
Changing Your Name Through the License
California builds the name-change process into the marriage license itself. When you apply, either or both parties can choose to change a middle name, last name, or both.9California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 306.5 – Name Change on Marriage License Your new last name can be:
- Your spouse’s current last name
- Either spouse’s last name at birth
- A hyphenated or combined version of both last names
- A single new last name combining segments of either spouse’s current or birth last name
You can only make this election when the license is issued. Once the certificate is registered, you cannot add or change the name on it later except to correct a clerical error. Deciding on a different name after the fact means going through a separate court-ordered name change, which costs more and takes longer.
To update your Social Security card, the Social Security Administration recommends waiting at least 30 days after the marriage date so state records can catch up. You’ll need your marriage certificate and identification, and many applicants can start the process online.10Social Security Administration. Just Married? Need to Change Your Name?
Community Property: What Changes Financially
California is one of nine community property states, and this is the biggest financial consequence of marrying here. Almost all property either spouse acquires during the marriage while living in California belongs equally to both.11California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 760 – Community Property That covers wages, real estate purchased with marital earnings, retirement contributions made during the marriage, and debts either spouse takes on.
Property you owned before the wedding, gifts specifically to you, and inheritances stay separate. The tangles come when separate and community property mix. Use an inheritance for a down payment, then pay the mortgage from a joint account, and the house becomes partly separate and partly community. Reconstructing the shares in a divorce is expensive. Keep clean records from the start.
If the marriage ends in divorce or legal separation, community property is divided 50/50 by default. California does not use the “equitable distribution” approach where a judge weighs fairness. Equal division is the rule.
Spousal Support if the Marriage Ends
Courts can award spousal support (alimony) to either spouse during or after a divorce. Judges weigh a detailed set of factors set out by statute:12California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 4320 – Spousal Support Factors
- Each spouse’s marketable skills, the job market, and time spent out of the workforce for domestic responsibilities
- Whether one spouse helped the other earn a degree, license, or career advancement
- The length of the marriage
- Age and health of each party
- Documented history of domestic violence
- The standard of living established during the marriage
As a rough guideline, support for marriages under ten years typically runs for about half the length of the marriage. For marriages of ten years or more, treated as “long duration,” the court has broad discretion and may order support indefinitely. These are guidelines, not fixed rules.
Prenuptial Agreements
A prenuptial agreement lets a couple override California’s default community property and support rules before marrying. California’s enforceability standards are stricter than in many states, and agreements that cut corners are thrown out regularly. To hold up, a prenup must satisfy all of the following:13California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 1615 – Enforceability of Premarital Agreements
- Both parties signed voluntarily, with no coercion.
- The party giving up rights either had their own attorney or received a written advisement to get one at least seven days before signing and then expressly waived counsel in a separate written document.
- For agreements signed on or after January 1, 2020, the party giving up rights had at least seven calendar days between first seeing the final agreement and signing. A prenup signed the night before the wedding is almost certainly unenforceable.
- Both parties made a fair and full disclosure of property and financial obligations, unless the other party knowingly waived further disclosure in writing.
- The terms were not unconscionable at the time of signing.
Postnuptial agreements, signed after the wedding, are also recognized, though the enforcement standards can differ because spouses already owe each other fiduciary duties by that point.
Domestic Partnerships and Out-of-State Marriages
California recognizes a marriage validly performed anywhere else, so long as it was valid where it took place.14California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 308 – Out-of-State Marriages That includes common law marriages formed in states such as Colorado, Texas, or Iowa. You cannot create a new common law marriage inside California, but a valid one formed elsewhere carries full marital rights and obligations here.
California also offers registered domestic partnerships as an alternative to marriage, open to any couple where both partners are at least 18, neither is currently married or in another partnership, and neither is related by blood in a way that would bar marriage.15California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 297 – Domestic Partnerships At the state level, registered partners have the same rights as spouses, including community property, support, and a dissolution process equivalent to divorce. The federal government does not treat a domestic partnership as a marriage, so federal tax filing status, Social Security survivor benefits, and immigration sponsorship rights may not apply.
Federal Tax Consequences of Marriage
Marriage changes your federal taxes right away. Married couples can file jointly, and for tax year 2026 the joint standard deduction is $32,200, roughly double the single-filer amount.16Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 Joint filing also widens the income thresholds for lower brackets, which can save real money when one spouse earns much more than the other.
Spouses can transfer unlimited assets to each other without triggering gift or estate tax, roll over retirement accounts when one spouse dies, and claim education and child-related credits that phase out at higher joint income thresholds. Two high earners, though, sometimes end up in a combined bracket higher than either occupied while single. Run the numbers both ways before your first joint return.
Social Security and Survivor Benefits
Marriage creates Social Security entitlements that do not exist for unmarried partners. A surviving spouse can claim survivor benefits starting at 60 (or 50 if disabled), or at any age if caring for the deceased spouse’s child who is under 16 or has a disability. Benefits range from 71.5% to 100% of the deceased spouse’s benefit, depending on the survivor’s age when they apply.17Social Security Administration. Our Survivor Benefits: Protection for Your Family
A surviving divorced spouse can also qualify if the marriage lasted at least ten years, the survivor is at least 60 (or 50 if disabled), and the survivor has not remarried before age 60. If you already receive your own retirement benefit, Social Security pays whichever amount is higher rather than adding them together. A one-time lump-sum death payment of $255 is also available.
Healthcare Decisions and Spousal Privilege
Marriage gives your spouse legal authority to make medical decisions for you if you become incapacitated and haven’t named someone else through an advance directive or power of attorney. California’s next-of-kin rules put spouses and domestic partners at the top of the surrogate decision-maker list when no written directive exists. That is one of the strongest practical reasons to formalize a relationship, because unmarried partners often have no legal standing to direct a loved one’s care in an emergency.
Marriage also creates a spousal communications privilege that protects confidential communications between spouses from disclosure in court. In a criminal case, a spouse called by the prosecution can choose to testify but cannot be forced to. The privilege reaches communications from both before and during the marriage and lasts as long as the marriage does. It does not apply when one spouse is charged with a crime against the other or against their children, when the spouses are suing each other, or when the private communication was shared with a third party.