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Last Modified on Nov 15, 2026
California spousal support hub / Marriage length and duration
By H. William Edgar, California family law attorney at Edgar & Dow.
For California spousal-support jurisdiction, a marriage lasting 10 years or more from marriage to separation is presumptively a marriage of long duration. A shorter marriage can also qualify, and the court may consider periods of separation during the marriage. The classification does not automatically establish lifetime payments.
Determining marriage length requires attention to dates, evidence, and the purpose of the rule. “We were together for 12 years” may not answer how long the legal marriage lasted or when the final separation occurred.
Section 4336 supplies the starting point
Family Code section 4336 addresses retention of spousal-support jurisdiction in long-duration marriages. Its 10-year presumption affects the burden of producing evidence. The statute expressly leaves room for a finding of long duration below 10 years and for consideration of intervening separations.
The provision concerns the court’s continuing authority. Amount and payment duration remain separate questions governed by the order, agreement, and applicable support factors. A party should not use “long-term marriage” as shorthand for an unconditional entitlement to a particular payment.
Our 10-year marriage article explains the consequences of reaching the statutory threshold. This article focuses on establishing the classification accurately.
Count from marriage to separation
The relevant starting point is the date of marriage. The ordinary endpoint under section 4336 is the date of separation. The date a petition was filed and the date a judgment was entered can be important for other purposes, but they do not automatically supply that endpoint.
For example, a couple may separate before the 10th anniversary and obtain a final divorce judgment afterward. The passage of the anniversary during litigation does not itself establish a 10-year marriage under section 4336. The separation date still requires proper determination.
Verify the marriage date from reliable records and identify the evidence supporting separation. If either date is disputed, resolve the factual issue rather than building a support proposal around an assumed anniversary calculation.
Separation requires both intent and consistent conduct
Section 70 defines the separation date as the point of a complete and final break in the marital relationship, evidenced by one spouse expressing an intent to end the marriage and acting consistently with that intent. The court must consider all relevant evidence.
A physical move can be important without being the sole test. Likewise, remaining in the same residence does not by itself establish that the marriage continued for every legal purpose. Financial necessity, parenting arrangements, communications, and the parties’ conduct may all require examination.
Prepare a factual chronology. Identify what was communicated, when it was communicated, and what conduct followed. Avoid treating a private, unexpressed decision or an isolated argument as necessarily establishing the complete and final break required by the statute.
Reconciliation and intervening separations can complicate the calculation
Section 4336 permits the court to consider periods of separation during the marriage when deciding whether the marriage is in fact of long duration. The history therefore may matter beyond a simple subtraction of two dates.
Explain whether the parties resumed the marital relationship, how long any reconciliation lasted, and what evidence supports that account. A period of physical distance for employment or military service is not necessarily a marital separation. A genuine break followed by reconciliation presents a different issue.
Do not assume that every temporary separation is automatically deducted day for day or that it can never matter. The statute calls for consideration of the circumstances. A clear chronology allows the court to evaluate them.
Premarital cohabitation is not automatically added to the marriage
Years spent dating or living together before marriage ordinarily are not simply added to the legal marriage for the long-duration calculation. In re Marriage of Hebbring (1989) 207 Cal.App.3d 1260 discusses the distinction between the marriage and premarital cohabitation in the support context.
That does not mean the parties’ entire history is irrelevant to every possible claim. Agreements between unmarried partners, property rights, or other legally significant circumstances can present separate issues. They should be identified under the correct legal framework rather than folded into the marriage-length arithmetic.
Our unmarried-partner article explains why ordinary cohabitation, a registered domestic partnership, and a marriage can lead to different analyses. Obtain advice about the actual legal status and any transition between statuses.
A marriage shorter than 10 years can still be of long duration
The statute expressly permits that determination. It does not supply a second fixed threshold that automatically resolves every shorter marriage. The court evaluates the circumstances, including the broader support considerations relevant to retaining authority.
The financial consequences of the relationship may be important: employment interruption, age, health, realistic earning prospects, and the other section 4320 factors. A request to retain jurisdiction should explain why the evidence supports that result.
The opposite assumption is also unsound. A spouse cannot demand indefinite jurisdiction after every shorter marriage merely because future circumstances are uncertain. The court must exercise its discretion based on the record. The specific facts and proposed terms matter.
Long duration does not decide current need or ability to pay
Even after classification is established, the court must evaluate whether support should be ordered and in what amount. Comparable earnings, substantial assets, health limitations, domestic contributions, and other circumstances can produce different outcomes in marriages of identical duration.
The general half-length measure in section 4320(l) does not apply to long-duration marriages. That does not eliminate the goal of self-support or prevent later termination where legally justified. It changes one part of the duration analysis.
Keep three questions separate in your presentation: whether the marriage is of long duration, whether current support is appropriate, and what future authority the court should retain. Evidence relevant to one question may also inform another, but the questions are not identical.
The judgment can change the practical result
Section 4336 recognizes the effect of a contrary written agreement or an order terminating support. A long-duration marriage therefore does not make settlement language unimportant. A final waiver or jurisdictional termination may close an issue that otherwise could remain open.
Read the proposed judgment and incorporated agreement together. Identify whether support is payable now, reserved at zero, modifiable, limited to a fixed period, or subject to an express jurisdictional cutoff. Our reserved-support article explains those distinctions.
If an existing order contains a cutoff, seek advice before it arrives. A belief that the marriage was long enough does not reliably preserve authority that the order terminates. Calendar the actual legal deadline rather than an assumed statutory one.
Prepare the classification issue with a focused record
Collect the marriage record, relevant communications, the separation chronology, evidence of any reconciliation, and financial information showing the circumstances bearing on support. Explain disputed dates directly and consistently with other positions taken in the case.
Avoid shaping the chronology merely to reach a desired support result. Separation dates can affect property and other issues as well. A coherent factual account is important throughout the case.
The classification should emerge from the statute and the evidence. Once established, it becomes the starting point for a carefully drafted support order, not an answer to every remaining financial question.
Discuss your spousal support case with Edgar & Dow
A useful consultation starts with the existing orders, current financial records, and the decision that needs to be made. Edgar & Dow represents clients in California family law matters. Contact our office or call 951-684-6885 to discuss your situation.
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