Community property states

Community property states generally consider a gift from one spouse to the other to be the recipient’s separate property. Community property states treat marital income differently than other states (which are sometimes called common law states). As a result, the tax law has special rules for community income.

Lawyers all this “commingling.”. Lawyers use legislation (the state’s statutes or codes), court rules, and case law (decisions from cases decided by judges) as a guide to what would happen in your case should you end up in front of a judge. Based on these laws, your lawyer should have a pretty good idea of where the chips would fall if your case went to court. Laws vary among the states that recognize community property; however, the basic idea is that a husband and wife each acquire a one-half interest in what is labeled community property. A determining factor in the classification of a particular asset as community property is the time of acquisition.

Division of community debts may not be the same as division of community property. For example, in California, community property is required to be divided “equally” while community debt is required to be divided “equitably”. Division of community property may take place by item, by splitting all items or by value. In some jurisdictions, such as California, a 50/50 division of community property is mandated by law.