Prob. Code, § 59 · Part 2. DEFINITIONS
Prob. Code, § 59
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
“Predeceased spouse” means a person who died before the decedent while married to the decedent, except that the term does not include any of the following:
(a) A person who obtains or consents to a final decree or judgment of dissolution of marriage from the decedent or a final decree or judgment of annulment of their marriage, which decree or judgment is not recognized as valid in this state, unless they (1) subsequently participate in a marriage ceremony purporting to marry each to the other or (2) subsequently live together as spouses.
(b) A person who, following a decree or judgment of dissolution or annulment of marriage obtained by the decedent, participates in a marriage ceremony to a third person.
(c) A person who was a party to a valid proceeding concluded by an order purporting to terminate all marital property rights.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 50, Sec. 76. (SB 1005) Effective January 1, 2017.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=59.
- Text hash
- sha256 5bfbcdff852e36fcfffa797317e4f5342ce347a1e01d227acd992a7817ed18c1
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.