In California, the date of separation has a major impact on your divorce case. It’s a vital factor in how the courts decide to divide up your property, calculate spousal support, and other matters. Let’s uncover how this date is established to help you gain a better understanding and how it can apply to your case.

Significance of Date of Separation

As a community property state, California considers any property and income acquired during marriage as owned by the “community”. This means that both you and your spouse own a 50/50 share of all assets and debts acquired together as a married couple.

After your marriage is dissolved, the property you are entitled to depends on what date the courts deem as the date of separation. Essentially, it’s your cut-off date and determines which property is labeled as community property vs separate property.

In sum, any property acquired between the date of marriage and date of separation is community property and belongs to both of you, whereas all property acquired outside of this timeframe is separate property and belongs to either you or your spouse.

Amicable Separations

At first glance, the date of separation seems simple enough to identify. In amicable situations, you and your spouse may have come to an agreement on a specific date when you expressed or communicated the intention to no longer live as a married couple. For example, you may have worked with a mediator to create a written agreement that clearly establishes the date when both of you decided that the marriage was over. In cases like this, the courts will consider your expressed written date as the date of separation.

California Laws Governing Date of Separation

Typically when a couple starts the divorce process, one spouse moves out their belongings and resides in a new dwelling during the separation. The court can use the details of this move to determine the relevant date of separation.

However, situations are not always that cut and dry. For example, couples may start the divorce process, yet continue to live together in the same household for cultural reasons, to maintain stability for their children, or financial pressures, especially during the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.

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Changes to Separation Law

Before 2017, the California Supreme Court classified married couples living together as not legally separated. They ruled on a case in 2015, citing a 1870s statute that married couples must be “living separate and apart” in order to determine the date of separation. In this case, even though the couple essentially decided to end their marriage, they continued to live together, affecting their division of property based on the relevant date of separation.

However, California’s Governor in 2017, Jerry Brown, signed State Bill 1255 to directly abrogate In re Marriage of Davis. This new law adds Section 70 to the Family Code, which, effective January 1, 2017, defined “date of separation” as “a complete and final break in the marital relationship . . ., as evidenced by both of the following: (1) The spouse has expressed to the other spouse his or her intent to end the marriage. (2) The conduct of the spouse is consistent with his or her intent to end the marriage.” The court must take into account “all relevant evidence” in making the determination.

Therefore, since January 1, 2017, married couples no longer need to live apart to be separated. Instead, your separation date is based on the communication, actions, and behavior that you express to end your marriage. For instance, you send an email to your spouse on April 1, 2020, saying that “the marriage is over,” and begin to conduct yourself as if the marriage is over (e.g. move out, start dating, split finances, open new bank accounts). In this scenario, April 1, 2020 could be considered your legal date of separation. As a result, you may have serious trouble proving that your date of separation is on October 1 of the same year if you’re looking to assert a community property interest in an asset acquired after April. In order to help your case, you would need to present other factors to the Court showing that you and your partner reconciled after the email was sent in April. For example, you may have continued marriage counseling in order to save your marriage, and that you decided to separate again in October.

Best Practices for Your Divorce

When aiming to establish a date of separation, you should express your intention in writing, and conduct yourself accordingly. In the eyes of the law, you can live in the same home, but can’t outwardly or publicly be affectionate, hold each other out as married partners, go on recreational trips together, or attend marriage counseling sessions. Such behavior works against the intent of Family Code section 70 and can work against you in your quest to establish a clear date of separation.

The good news is that, if you are looking to end your marriage, you can kick off the process without having to move out. Generally speaking, if your goal is to keep as much interest in the community property as possible, then you want to establish your date of separation as the latest date possible. If you are looking to avoid carrying over incurring debt as a married couple due to frivolous spending by your spouse, then you should aim to establish your date of separation as soon as possible.

Of course, there are gray areas that need a deeper investigation to cut to the truth of the matter. If you have questions about the details of your case and would like to review them carefully to achieve your divorce goals, reach out to us—we’d be happy to help walk you through the details.

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20 responses to “How is the Date of Separation Determined in California?

  1. Divorce finalized. Wife left home Oct, 2018 and has not paid any bills nor helped with mortgage. Now wants equal equity split of home. Filed “Date of Separation” is 10/01/18. Is she entitled to 50% of current equity or is her half determined by equity value at “Separation Date”.

    1. Hi Aaron – the community property’s interest in the house is measured at the time of settlement or trial. What she may or may not be entitled to, as well as any reimbursements owed to you (or the community), can be a little complicated. Feel free to call me to discuss more.

  2. Separated and completely separated households (I moved out, he stayed in marital rental house) and separated finances/bank accounts almost 2 years ago but did not begin divorce proceedings due to lack of time (no major assets; left almost all household items because it was easier to buy new than to separate and move). Now looking to file paperwork; do I base things (i.e., FL-150, 2 months’ paystubs, 2 years’ tax returns) off of my current information or information at date of separation? I cannot find an answer to this question.

    1. Hi JB – I’d be happy to help you with this question. Feel free to book a consultation with me using the “Schedule a Consultation” button at the top of the page.

  3. A business property was acquired 4 months before separation .. 10 years later what is wife entitled to? Husband has done improvements on property and it’s a commercial warehouse .

    1. Hi Merlyn – technically, if a property is purchased during marriage (prior to separation), it is presumed to be a community property asset. However, what occurs for the 10 years afterward can impact the community property interest (ie. if separate funds were used to improve the property, etc).

  4. Separated june 2020 and spouse moved back to Australia in Oct 2020. All of the communication is documented. I’m looking to buy a house and I’m being told my mortgage companies that i need a quit claim deed signed by the spouse in order to get loan. Is that necessary if the spouse has moved out of the US after separation?

    1. Hi Sam – yes it is most likely necessary since you are technically still married. Even though your date of separation may have been established with her moving out of the US, but you are still married, and must go through divorce proceedings to revert back to being single. Before purchasing a new home, you should also confer with a family law attorney to make sure that the home will be your separate property post-separation, and that the community would not own any interest in your new purchase.

  5. My wife filed for divorce June 2020 when I was making $80k a year, I moved out August 2020. We split time with the kids 50/50. In 2021 I earned $200k and I’m pacing a little more this year. We have not officially gotten divorced but plan to move forward with it this fall. We’ve been separated since August 2020. She earns $100k a yearly. Is this going to be based on my $80k earning or $200k earnings?

    1. Hi David – temporary support may be based on current income figures, however, permanent spousal support is based on the Family Code 4320 factors, one of which is marital standard of living. Therefore, a permanent spousal support order would be based on your respective incomes and marital standard of living during the marriage. On the other hand, any child support orders would be based on current respective incomes.

  6. Hello, I got married in March 2008 however in January 2012 after My Husband and I just moved into a rental house 8 months prior to 01/2012, Husband didn’t pay full rent without my knowledge and hid Eviction paperwork from me, went to court without my knowledge, then waited till we had 24 hours to be out of the property. I went to my Mom and Sisters house and they both passed away that same year. I don’t know where Husband went nor do I have a phone number for him after i cut his cell phone bill i had been paying for till May 2013. I’ve tried to see him over the years to no avail. I sent him messages thru social media so I finally expressed last year I want a divorce. He obtained an Attorney but I cannot afford one. He met me disabled and I’m still disabled. I’m representing myself in court and his attorney doesn’t want to agree to alimony for 2 of the 4 years we were actively married. I am no longer at my Moms and would like to get on my feet again as he did a lot of damage to my credit as well with the Evictions. In addition I didn’t file for a divorce or seperation as I didnt know if we would reconcile and he maintained me on his health and dental insurance thru his work. Am I able to request Alimony? Also I am the beneficiary thru his union. I also requested his wedding ring as I had all my Family Heirlooms melted and made into our wedding rings. Any advice would be great.

    1. Hi Christina – I’m unable to give you legal advice in this forum, but you’re more than welcome to contact me through my website and set up a consultation. I’d be more than happy to talk to you about your options with all of the relevant information.

  7. These new laws are confusing to me, although now I am divorced so it doesn’t matter. Still I would like to pose a question on what I deemed legal separation was in California due to something I read online between 2009-2013. So my now legal ex and I separated in 2008 – planning to divorce in the future. I moved out of the county to my family home and the same day he moved his girlfriend (now wife) in our house. That was fine but I continued to be wary of him as he is HORRIBLE with money and credit and I didn’t want to be responsible for any debts he incurred AFTER we separated, as we were still legally married. I seem to recall when looking up legal separation all those years ago, it generally stipulated that a couple was deemed separated the DAY one of them moved to a new address, and there fore were NOT legally responsible for any debts incurred after that split (providing they could show the new address and validate the fact they moved out). Now I am seeing the law seems to have changed in regards to having to apply for a legal separation. I looked this info up numerous times over the years, but cannot find it now. As I said, I have nothing to worry about now, but was just curious if what I read in the past was true back then.

    1. Hi Lisa – there was a time where a court ruled that the date of separation was evidenced by “living separate and apart”, but that law has since been overturned. The “date of separation” is defined by Family Code section 70, which states that “Date of separation” means the date that a complete and final break in the marital relationship has occurred, as evidenced by both of the following: (1) The spouse has expressed to the other spouse the intent to end the marriage, (2) The conduct of the spouse is consistent with the intent to end the marriage. (b) In determining the date of separation, the court shall take into consideration all relevant evidence. (c) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section to abrogate the decisions in In re Marriage of Davis (2015) 61 Cal.4th 846 and In re Marriage of Norviel (2002) 102 Cal.App.4th 1152.

  8. Hi since the day of separation I have been paying all our bills that we accrued during the marriage with my own personal account. I’ve also payed her car payment insurance plus temporary alimony.. is that gonna account for anything when it comes time to stand in front of the judge and he decides who gets what and how much

    1. Hi Rosalinda – the Judge may take your payments into consideration for reimbursements/credits owed to you, or it may consider that money you paid as a gift. It’s best to put some orders in place to determine your entire obligation so that you don’t just give your money away. Feel free to book a consultation with me through my website if you want to talk more about this.

  9. My ex filed a Petition for dissolution on our 10 year anniversity. However, we were no longer holding ourselves as a couple for a few months before., AND, the date of separation she wrote down on the Petition was 3 weeks shy of the 10 years. When I filed my Response, I put date of separation 4 weeks before the 10 year mark. During our marriage, we separated twice (i moved out and dated). The total separation time was 3 years and 1 month. Would this be considered a long term marriage even though it lasted 9 years and 11 months with 3 years of intermittent separations?

    1. Hi Mike – Unfortunately, I cannot provide a response here in the comments section of my blog, but if you’d like to set up a consultation, please contact me through my website to schedule a time to talk.

  10. My wife filed for divorce and listed the separation date as 02/01/2020. We were married on 10/21/2012. She separated her finances and opened new sperate checking, savings and credit cards. We both lived in the same home since the filing and have slowly gone through the courts but never finalized the divorce. Part of the reason we stayed together and not rushed the divorce was for the sake of our daughter (9 years old now). It has gotten to the point where we both want this to end, but now she wants to change the separation date to 03/29/2023. She has kept all her finances separate from me and has not paid any of our living expenses this entire time. There was attempts to try and reconcile, but she kept her finances separated and she refused to pay anything towards our mtg, car, etc. She was prior to the filing in 2020. I have documented proof of all this.

    She now refuses to discuss anything till I either accept the new separation date, or we go to court over it.

    To keep the original separation date SHE filed could I argue that since she never asked for a dismissal on our case, she kept her finances separated this entire time, we have RFO’s on our child custody and visitation (50/50)? Yes, there were some attempts at reconciliation, but we never FULLY did based on what I just listed. I never rushed anything based on what I just explained as I thought I was protected.

    Thank you!

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