California Codes
Cal. Evidence Code § 970 (2026)
✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
CA-LEGleginfo.legislature.ca.gov
JustiaCode on Justia
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
Except as otherwise provided by statute, a married person has a privilege not to testify against his spouse in any proceeding.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 32
cases (6 in the last 5 years), 1968–2025 · leading case: People v. Lucas, 907 P.2d 373 (Cal. 1995).
People v. Lucas, 907 P.2d 373 (Cal. 1995). “Although a person generally has no privilege to refuse to testify in favor of his or her spouse in a criminal proceeding, Evidence Code section 970 provides that a married person has a privilege not to testify against his or her spouse who is a party in any proceeding.”
People v. Sinohui, 47 P.3d 629 (Cal. 2002). “(Evid. Code, § 970.) Second, a spouse may refuse to disclose or may prevent the other spouse from disclosing confidential communications between them during their marriage (marital communications privilege).”
People v. Lucas, 333 P.3d 587 (Cal. 2014). “(Evid. Code, § 970.) Thus, it was solely Shannon Lucas’s decision not to testify against defendant at the preliminary hearing, and her right to assert that privilege is distinct from defendant’s right of confrontation even though the assertion benefited defendant.”
Norman v. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd., 663 P.2d 904 (Cal. 1983). “a method for equitable resolution of property disputes in situations where *7 the parties not only carried on a relationship that, except for the formal ceremony, was marriage-like, but where they also entered into an implied contract or agreement as to ownership of property,…”
People v. Siravo, 93 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5691 (Cal. Ct. App. 1993). “(Evid. Code, § 970.) We conclude that there is no marital testimonial privilege here because the victim was a “cohabitant” of appellant’s spouse.”
People v. Bradford, 450 P.2d 46 (Cal. 1969). “Under former Code of Civil Procedure section 1881, *343 subdivision 1, a wife could not, with certain exceptions, be called as a witness against her husband without his consent; Evidence Code section 970, however, narrows the scope of this privilege by placing its exercise…”
People v. Gilbert, 462 P.2d 580 (Cal. 1969). “Code, § 980); and death, disability, pension, and burial rights accorded by the state to spouses of veterans and state employees are denied to persons who have not obtained the sanction of a formal marriage.”
In re a Grand Jury Subpoena, 849 N.E.2d 797 (Mass. 2006). “1997), or protect the witness from being called to testify “against” the spouse, see Cal. Evid. Code § 970 (1995) (“Except as otherwise provided by statute, a married person has a privilege not to testify against his spouse in any proceeding”).”
In Re Marriage of Brown, 99 Cal. App. 3d 702 (Cal. Ct. App. 1979). “Paul relies principally upon Evidence Code sections 970 and 971. 4 Gary looks to section 250 of the Civil Code.”
People v. Bogle, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9922 (Cal. Ct. App. 1995). “II, III * IV Privilege Not to Testify Against Spouse and Confidential Marital Communication Privilege The defendant claims it was error to require the defendant’s wife, Corinne, to testify against him because both the privilege not to testify against a spouse (Evid. Code, § 970)…”
People v. Lankford, 55 Cal. App. 3d 203 (Cal. Ct. App. 1976). “ruling at the preliminary hearing shall be binding upon the people unless, upon notice to the defendant and the court in which the preliminary hearing was held and upon the filing of an information, the people within 10 days after the preliminary hearing request in the superior…”
Troy v. Superior Court, 186 Cal. App. 3d 1006 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986). “Troy also raises objections to some of the questions based upon relevance and assertion of the marital privilege (Evid. Code, §§ 970, 980). We initially denied Troy’s petition for writ of mandate, 1 but thereafter issued an order to show cause at the direction of the Supreme…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.