Community property states implement the policy that, when a couple gets a divorce, all of their marital property will be equally divided between them. The law behind community property states assumes that each spouse has an equal contribution to the marriage even though only one person goes to work to support the finances of the household and the other one just stays at home to keep the house clean and take good care of the children. So in case of death, divorce or separation, each of the spouses is given the right to own fifty percent of the marital property.

 

There could be an instance when one would overhear someone complaining that his or her spouse managed to get everything after the divorce finalized. This means that the person complaining does not live in any of the community property states.

 

Under the law of community property states, marital assets can be divided by having one of the spouses to own the title of some particular assets such as the family house or vacation house and the other one to receive a combination of some of the marital assets plus cash payment to compensate the variance of the divided assets. The law makes sure that both parties received their equal share.

 

However, not all property owned by the couple are considered marital property which can be equally divided. Any asset owned by each spouse prior the marriage is not part of the marital property. Any property, which was an inheritance or gift, accepted by one of them while married is also not part of the marital property. These assets, as long as separated from marital property, are not part of the division.

 

So, if one of the spouses receives an inheritance in the form of cash and he or she intends to keep it out of the marital property, he or she must deposit the cash to his or her own personal account. If the cash is mixed with the couple’s bank account, the court will take it as the couple’s money and, thus, part of the marital property.

 

In order to find out if a particular asset is a separate or community property, the money used to pay for it should be traced. So, it is important to keep detailed information of purchases so that it will be easier to prove which assets are not parts of the community property.