California is a community state. In fact it’s one of only nine community property states. Community property law stands for the proposition that a husband and wife will be considered co-owners of property similar to a partnership entity.
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.
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.
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 is a term that refers to property accumulated by a couple when they lived in an equitable distribution state, before they moved California, the place where they began to accumulate community property. In both Arizona and California, quasi-community property is dealt with 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
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