Community Property - List Of Community Property States

Community Property - Is it His, Hers, or Ours? Washington State Community Property Agreement

Community property is property owned or purchased in a marriage, according to laws of a community property state. Any property purchased by a husband or wife during the marriage is community property. Property purchased before marriage or property received during marriage by inheritance or by way of gift is not considered community property, but separate property. In marital property division, the source of property will decide if the property is separate or community property. Generally, separate property is property acquired through inheritance or as a gift. All other property is community property.

Any property acquired in a marriage belongs to both spouses. Ownership of community property is shared equally by the spouses. Each spouse owns an undivided interest in one half of the community property. If a marriage ends in annulment or divorce, each spouse shares equally all assets acquired and liabilities incurred during the marriage.

Division of community property is governed by state laws. After divorce, some states divide community property equally among spouses, while other states divide pursuant to the prudence of the court.

Several jurisdictions in the U.S. are declared as community property states. If you marry in community property states, or get separated in one, there will be equal division of property. In a non-community property state, assets and liabilities will be divided by equitable distribution. In equitable distribution, a court prescribes the ratio of distribution.

Jurisdictions that are governed by community property statutes consider almost all of the property purchased during the marriage, including earned income, as marital community property. Jurisdictions that are governed by equitable distribution take into consideration monetary and nonmonetary contributions that each partner made to the marriage. If one spouse made a larger contribution, s/he will be granted a bigger share of the joint properties.

Laws and regulations regarding division of community property differ widely between community property states. A majority of the jurisdictions do not consider a professional qualification earned by a spouse during the course of marriage to be community property, however any financial back up from the other spouse will be considered in the property distribution. Certain jurisdictions, however, consider a degree earned during marriage as a joint marital asset and have stipulated methods to allocate it.

Some states recognize a covenant marriage where an agreement decides how marital property should be divided. Spouses may enter into a premarital agreement in which the husband and wife may stipulate that there will be no community property. If a premarital agreement is not signed, then the property acquired during marriage is involuntarily in community of property.

Some jurisdictions recognize another form of community property known as community property with right of survivorship. This method of holding property has resemblance to joint tenancy with right of survivorship. In such a system, if a joint tenant passes away, the assets will involuntarily go to the survivors of the joint tenants.

Another community property concept recognized by some states is quasi community property. A property is considered a quasi community property when a spouse acquires the property in a non community property state, and later moves to a community property state.