168 DIVorCe wItH DeCenCY
marriages. In these states, one automatically becomes legally mar-
ried following an established statutory period of living together
(usually approximately seven years).
The other way in which a couple that was just living together
could suddenly find themselves turned into surrogate spouses
is through the concept of palimony. Almost everyone has heard
about the famous Lee Marvin palimony case which came out
of California in 1976. In that case, Marvin’s longtime girlfriend
sought financial support even though they had never married.
Many prospective clients seem to have the impression (perhaps
derived from news headlines surrounding the Marvin or other
celebrity palimony cases) that if you simply cohabit with some-
one, you are automatically close to having a common-law mar-
riage or perhaps have some other grounds for demanding pali-
mony. In reality, however, the situation is not quite that simple.
Instead, what would probably be required to make for any chance
of a viable palimony case would be for a couple to demonstrate
a long-term relationship (a virtual domestic partnership) that
included continuous cohabitation, commingling of assets, and
the representation to the outside world that they were husband
and wife. Absent that, just living together probably won’t cut it
(unless, of course, you have the (mis)fortune to live in one of the
thirteen common-law marriage states).
Palimony is an unsettled area of the law, and courts nationwide
are divided all across the board on how they deal with this rela-
tively new hot potato issue of quasi-family law. Rulings in these
cases seem to hinge largely on the specific facts of the individual
case. For our purposes, it is sufficient to say that large palimony
awards have generally proven to be far less easy to obtain than
the sensational Marvin trial would suggest.