California Confidential Marriages?

Question

What are reasons people would want to enter into these sort of marriages...besides being well known and wanting to be private. A friend is not marrying because of an IRS problem and wants to wait until it is resolved. I say she can with a confidental marriage. Anyone know if that true?

The IRS problem could take years.

Answer 1

A confidential marriage is the same as a non-confidential marriage. The only differences are that the license is not a public document and it costs more. To apply for a confidential marriage license, you must have been living with your partner for at least six months and must get married in the county where the license was issued. You can get married anywhere in California with a regular license regardless of what county issued it. You might want to get a confidential license if wanted to cover up the fact you were living with someone you were not married to. When these licenses were first issued, you needed a blood test for regular licenses but not confidential ones.

That said, a confidential marriage license would not help your friend. She would still be married to a tax problem.

Is the tax problem something that can be resolved somehow? I am an enrolled agent licensed by the US Treasury Dept and specialize in clients with tax messes. If you want information outside this forum, you can email me through my profile.

Answer 2

Sorry, but you are not correct. Please don't practice law without a license!

A marriage is a marriage, confidential or otherwise. She'd still be married, would have to file as such on tax returns, and would be subject to the same potential tax issues as she would be with a regular marriage.

If she's not marrying due to tax issues -- a wise idea, IMHO -- then she'll need to wait years for the issues to be resolved before marrying, confidentially or otherwise.