A formal marriage generally cannot be created in the State of California by a man and a woman’s consent or cohabitation, alone. The key words regarding this law against common law marriage and its invalidity are “in the State of California”. Therefore, if a man and woman live in California and think they have created a common law marriage here by consent or cohabitation here, California courts may reject it.

But there may be an important exception. California law also states that if a marriage is valid pursuant to the laws of the place, such as a State or foreign country, where the marriage occurred, then California may recognize the marriage absent certain limited circumstances. Those limited circumstances are beyond the scope of this article.