California is a community property state. It is one of only nine other community property states in America. Under community property law, husbands and wives are deemed co-owners of property much like a partnership.
In the state of California property owned by a couple is deemed at divorce to fit into one of three categories. A court will consider either community property, separate property, or 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.
In fact under the law, both spouses own the property acquired from the beginning of the marriage to the date of separation. How do they own it? Each owns a one half interest.
Separate property is property that either spouse owns before the marriage, after separation, or property that was received during the marriage either by inheritance or gift. For example, let’s say that you received a large sum of money as inheritance from your rich uncle. The money is yours and will be considered separate property at divorce.
Income that was earned during the marriage is generally considered community property unless the income originates from separate property. In sum, your income during a marriage is going to be considered community property even if it’s held in a separate count in your name or your spouse’s name.
Now for quasi-community property, here it gets a little stickier. 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.
Unfortunately there’s an even trickier part: often times separate property can be calm community property during the normal course of the marriage. This does happen frequently and sometimes results in a nasty surprise. If you’re considering a divorce please contact me immediately to discuss these issues and help you avoid nasty surprises. Click on the links below to visit my webpage and schedule a free consultation.
