What Is a Quasi-Marital Relationship?
November 2002
In the State of Washington, a community property state, there is a presumption that all property acquired during a marriage is jointly owned by both parties. Once this presumption is established, the party claiming that certain property is separate must show that the asset was acquired and maintained with a separate source of funds. Without proper rebuttal evidence, the asset will be divided on an equitable basis between the spouses. Despite common belief, this rule applies not only to legally married couples, but is frequently applied to "quasi-marital" heterosexual relationships (i.e., living together).
Although a marriage may be easily defined, there are common misunderstandings regarding what constitutes a quasi-marital relationship. A recent holding by the Washington appellate court ruled that a couple living together continuously in a stable and supportive relationship for four (4) years had a quasi-marital relationship, even though they did not jointly own the house they had lived in and did not commingle their bank accounts. Both parties held separate jobs, but jointly paid for their living expenses. They did not hold themselves out as a married couple. Based on these facts, the court held that there was a quasi-marital relationship and upheld the trial court's division of the value of the goodwill of one party's dental practice on a 60/40 basis. Even though the dental practice was acquired by one party one year before the couple began living together, the court concluded that the support each offered the other was sufficient to make the arrangement "quasi-marital" and subject to the community property presumption. Chesterfield v. Nash, 96 Wash.App. 103 (Div. 1, 1999), review granted, 138 Wash.2d 1016 (1999).
