Thursday, February 12, 2009

What Does Community Property Mean?

By Jon D. Alexander, Esq.

California like nine other states is a community property state. Community property law considers the husbands and wives to be co-owner's of property much like a partnership.

In California all the properties owned by a married couple fits into three categories. It is either (1) community property; (2) separate property; or (3) quasi-community property.

Whether a piece of property is community, separate, or quasi-community property will control the division of property upon divorce. Under California law community property is defined as all property, real or personal, wherever situated, acquired by married persons during the marriage while domiciled in the state.

Property that is acquired during marriage that is from the beginning of the marriage until the date of separation is owned by both spouses. How? Each spouse owns a distinct one half interest in the property.

Separate property are those things that either spouse had before marriage, after separation, or received during the marriage either by gift or inheritance. So, let's say that during your marriage you received an inheritance for your rich aunt. That property is yours and is considered separate property.

Your income earned during the marriage will be considered community property unless it originates from separate property. This means that even if you hold the money in a separate account it is still deemed to be community property

Quasi-community property is a little bit tricky. It is defined under the law as: all real or personal property, wherever situated, acquired before or after the operative date of this code in any of the following ways: (a) By either spouse while domiciled elsewhere which would have been community property if the spouse who acquired the property had been domiciled in this state at the time of its acquisition. (b) In exchange for real or personal property, wherever situated, which would have been community property if the spouse who acquired the property so exchanged had been domiciled in this state at the time of its acquisition.

quasi-community property refers to that property acquired by a couple when they lived in an equitable distribution state before moving to California. In California, however, was a community property is treated just like community property.

Now for the even trickier part: Sometimes separate property can become community property during the course of the marriage. This happens all too frequently and sometimes results in a nasty surprise during divorce. If you are considering a divorce contact me and we can discuss these issues at length to help you avoid any nasty surprises. click on the links below to visit my website and schedule a free consultation

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment