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Community Property • General Principles
CPROP#004
Legal Definition
Community property is property, other than separate property, acquired by either spouse during marriage. The most common examples are (1) salary or wages earned by either spouse, and (2) the income from community assets.
Plain English Explanation
Most property, including money, in a marriage usually falls under community property, which means both people in the couple have a claim to it. It’s considered shared property because it was earned or received while the couple was still married. Most commonly, that involves the salary earned by the couple and any money they’ve earned from a piece of property they own together, or things nought with such money.
Hypothetical
Hypo 1: Jill and Sam are going through divorce proceedings and their lawyers are working to split up the money they share. Jill’s feeling pretty confident, because she’s been earning half a million dollars every year ever since her promotion and Sam’s been a stay-at-home dad. She was promoted right after they got married, so she’s expecting to get most of the money. Result: Hopefully Jill didn’t spring for a flashy, pricey lawyer, because technically the salary she’s earned during their marriage belongs to them both, because Sam’s work at home enabled Jill to work a job like that.
Hypo 2: Bob and Amy, in their divorce proceedings, are trying to figure out who owns the income they’ve made from their Airbnb properties. They have 6 Airbnb properties, all purchased during the marriage, and Bob’s been paying for repairs/upkeep with his salary from work. Who owns that income? Result: Because the profits from the Airbnbs comes from properties they bought together, that money is community property, as are the properties. Even though the money for repairs came from Bob’s salary, that salary is a community asset as well, so Bob doesn’t have any more of a claim to the money than Amy does.
Hypo 2: Bob and Amy, in their divorce proceedings, are trying to figure out who owns the income they’ve made from their Airbnb properties. They have 6 Airbnb properties, all purchased during the marriage, and Bob’s been paying for repairs/upkeep with his salary from work. Who owns that income? Result: Because the profits from the Airbnbs comes from properties they bought together, that money is community property, as are the properties. Even though the money for repairs came from Bob’s salary, that salary is a community asset as well, so Bob doesn’t have any more of a claim to the money than Amy does.
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