As a community property state, California law requires that each spouse receive an equal share of the marital estate. The marital estate consists of all property that was acquired during the marriage. There may be questions regarding what should be included in your marital estate, and it is wise to have an experienced lawyer representing you from the outset.
At Contreras Law Firm in San Diego, we have decades of combined experience handling of property division matters, including the estates of high net worth couples. We can help you resolve disputes over community and separate assets as a foundation for the rest of the process.
Dividing The Marital Estate
You may think that you can divide your property without an experienced San Diego property division attorney. Your spouse may have proposed an agreement that you think is fair, but know that this is often not the case. You need to know what you are entitled to receive before entering into any agreements, because it can be impossible to revisit this part of your divorce.
Issues we can assist you with include:
- Helping you discover the full value of all assets subject to division
- Determining what will happen to the marital home, the equity in the home and remaining mortgage debt
- Assessing the value of any item, such as a vehicle, that cannot be divided between the spouses
- Reviewing retirement accounts to learn what was contributed to the accounts during the marriage
- Working with experienced financial professionals to determine the value of any business interests owned by one or both spouses
- Discussing what will happen to any credit card debt or other debts accumulated during the marriage
Our experienced property division lawyers are here to provide you with strong representation throughout this process. Whether we can negotiate a settlement or need to go to court, we are ready to help you. We have handled hundreds of contested property division cases inside the courtroom for our past clients.
What is Considered Community Property?
Community property is a rule for dividing money and things owned by a married couple. In California, almost everything that either spouse earns or buys during the marriage belongs to both people. It does not matter who actually made the money or whose name is on the stuff. As long as you got it while you were married, it’s usually treated as jointly owned.
How Does Community Property Work?
If a couple separates or divorces, California law treats community property as split between the two. Each spouse gets an equal share. This system does not focus on whose paycheck bought what or whose name is on the account. Community property refers to debt as well, so most debts are split evenly once the couple gets divorced. Examples of community property include:
- Wages earned by either partner during marriage
- Real estate bought with income earned while married, even if only one name is on the title
- Cars or other assets bought using income from work done while together
- Retirement benefits that both earned during the marriage
- Debts taken on during the marriage, including credit card or medical bills Businesses and growth in value if they started or developed while married
If you got something while married, the law usually treats it as belonging to both partners. There are exceptions, especially when property is kept apart or has a clear source from before the marriage, but for most people, things earned or bought during married life are counted as community property.
What is Considered Separate Property?
When couples go through divorce in California, not everything they own together has to be divided. Some things count as “separate property,” which belongs to just one spouse.
How Separate Property Becomes Separate
Different situations decide if something is separate property. Here’s how you might end up with something the court sees as just yours:
Owned Before the Marriage
Anything a spouse buys, receives, or saves before getting married is typically considered separate property. For example, a car you owned, money in a bank account you had before the wedding day, or a collection of valuable coins you received as a child.
Rent, Revenue, or Profits from Separate Property or Assets
If you earn money from your separate property after getting married, that’s yours too, as long as you don’t mix it with shared assets.
Gifts or Inheritances
If someone gives you something meant for you alone, or if you inherit from a relative without needing to share it, that stays with you, even if this occurs while you are married. This could be land, jewelry, money, or anything else.
Assets or Income After Separation
Once you’ve officially separated (your legal split date), things you earn from then on count as your own.
Exceptions – Commingling
Sometimes, things can get mixed together. For example, you might put an inheritance into a shared bank account. When that happens, the property is considered “commingled.” Proving whose property it is can take more work, as the courts will need to trace where the funds came from to determine who is entitled to what.
Determining Marital Property
Most things that people get while they’re married end up being considered marital property. It doesn’t matter who earned the money or whose name is on the title. When the marriage ends, the law looks at what you and your spouse have together and, in most cases, treats it as shared property. Here’s how this works:
Looking at How and When You Got Each Asset
Courts focus most on timing and how an item or account was obtained. If you bought a car or house during your marriage, even just with your paycheck, it usually counts as both of yours. That’s true even if one of you made most or all of the payments. If you obtained something before you got married, it’s more likely to be considered yours and not marital property.
Gifts, inheritances, or things you brought before the marriage can stay separate, but mixing them in with shared accounts makes things more complicated and makes it more likely to be considered marital property.
Understanding Debts
Marital property rules apply to debts as well as assets. If a loan or credit card was used to pay for things for the family – whether it was opened before or during the marriage – it is likely split up even if just one spouse signed the agreement. Personal debts taken before marriage often stay private, but not always.
In California, debts like student loans and medical bills are usually seen as the responsibility of the person who took them on, especially if the debts came before marriage. However, there are some situations where those debts can become shared.
For example, if you use community money to pay down those debts, a court may view them differently when property is split during a divorce.
Or, if both spouses refinance debt together or sign on together for new loans that combine old balances with new ones.
Another way student loan debt could become shared property is if one spouse chooses to stay home to raise children or take care of the house. As a result, they can’t work and weren’t able to pay down much or any of their student loans. In this case, the court might look at the trade-off the stay-at-home parent made for the family and the lost ability to pay down their debt. This can impact how the court decides property division or spousal support later on.
Property Located in Another State
When a couple lives in California and owns property in another state, maybe a vacation home or investment property, the situation can get a bit complex during divorce. Even if the property was bought while they lived outside California, or if the state it’s in doesn’t use community property rules, it won’t be treated as separate property at the time of divorce.
Instead, it will be treated as quasi community property. During divorce, California courts will generally treat it as if it was acquired under California’s community rules. This means the court may split the value equally between both spouses, regardless of what the law in the original state says.
Free Consultations Available
You can trust your marital property concerns to the divorce attorneys at Contreras Law Firm. We work tirelessly to ensure that our clients receive what is just and fair under California law. Contact our San Diego office today by calling 619-238-0616 or sending us an email to arrange your free consultation.