Community Property
A marital property system used in 9 US states under which property and earnings acquired during marriage are jointly owned and divided equally on divorce, absent a prenup.
Nine US states are community property: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. In these states, the default rule is that property and earnings acquired during marriage are presumptively owned 50/50 by the spouses, regardless of who earned the money or whose name is on the title.
A prenup is the primary tool for overriding the community-property default. Without a prenup in a community-property state, a high-earning spouse will see assets they alone produced during the marriage divided equally at divorce.
Everything that wasn't acquired during the marriage — gifts, inheritances, pre-marital assets — remains separate property, unless it has been commingled with marital funds and lost that status.
Related terms
- Equitable Distribution — The marital property system used in the 41 non-community-property US states (plus DC). Marital property is divided "fairly" — not necessarily equally — at divorce.
- Separate Property — Property owned by one spouse individually — typically property owned before the marriage, plus gifts and inheritances received during the marriage.
- Commingling — Mixing separate property with marital property in a way that makes them indistinguishable — often resulting in the separate property being treated as marital.
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