§10.02 Nature of Marital Relationship

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§ 10.02 NATURE OF MARITAL RELATIONSHIP

Statute characterizes marriage as a civil contract. RCW 26.04.010. This characterization applies to formation of the marriage, not to the marital relation itself, which has been described as a status since territorial days. Maynard v. Hill, 2 Wash. Terr. 321, 327, 5 P. 717 (1884), aff'd, 125 U.S. 190, 8 S. Ct. 723, 31 L. Ed. 654 (1888). That is, by contractual means, the parties enter into the marital relation or marital status. Wash. Statewide Org. of Stepparents v. Smith, 85 Wn.2d 564, 568, 536 P.2d 1202 (1975) ("the act of contracting marriage results in a change of status").

This "personal, legal status . . . is distinguishable 'from the rights and privileges that are incidents of marriage.' " Tostado v. Tostado, 137 Wn. App. 136, 142, 151 P.3d 1060 (2007) (quoting State v. Rivera, 95 Wn. App. 961, 965, 977 P.2d 1247 (1999)). For example, while generally the marital status continues to exist as the married parties move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the legal duties...