Baffled by California group property?
Assume it makes you personally accountable for the money owed of your partner?
Numerous folks do. Nevertheless it doesn’t.
California has been a group property state because it grew to become a state in 1850. You’ll assume we’d have gotten the dangle of it way back.
However the group property system continues to confound some married people, to not point out numerous debt collectors outdoors of California,
Let’s evaluation 7 fundamental info about California group property.
1 Property acquired throughout marriage is presumed to be group
Wages, advantages, lottery winnings: if they’re earned or acquired throughout marriage, they’re group property. The identify of 1 partner on the title doesn’t overcome the presumption.
Property both partner brings to the wedding are separate property. Presents and inheritances acquired throughout marriage are the separate property of the partner who acquires them. Household Code § 770.
Do nothing, and your acquisitions throughout marriage belong to the 2 of you, equally. Household Code § 760.
2 The spouses have equal, undivided pursuits in all group property
Whereas at any division of the group, every partner will get half, throughout marriage they’ve an undivided curiosity in the entire group. Household Code § 751.
3 Group property is accountable for the money owed of both partner incurred throughout marriage
The complete group is uncovered to the money owed of both partner. That signifies that the wages of 1 partner might be garnished by the judgment creditor of the opposite partner. Financially, we’re all on this collectively. Household Code § 910.
4 Group property is accountable for the money owed both partner brings to the wedding
The legal responsibility of group property extends to money owed that both partner incurred earlier than the marriage. Household Code § 910.
There’s a small exception right here: the group property wages of 1 partner can’t be garnished for the premarital money owed of the opposite if the wages are saved in a separate checking account to which solely the incomes partner has entry. Household Code § 911
5 Spouses can agree to not have group property
The group property scheme is the default association.
By getting into right into a prenuptial or publish nuptial settlement, spouses can agree to not have group property, or agree that solely sure property can be group.
They will additionally comply with transmute group property into separate property. A deed from one partner to a different might not be adequate to represent a transmutation into separate property.
Transmutations should be in writing, so the intention of each events is obvious. Household Code § 852.
6 Property acquired after the spouses separate just isn’t group property
Even nonetheless legally married, earnings after separation are separate property. Household Code § 771. That’s why the date of separation might be important when events divorce.
The character of property acquired earlier than separation isn’t modified by the marital breakdown; it stays group till a courtroom judgment divides the group.
7 Group property should be divided equally in a dissolution
As a result of the group belongs equally to the spouses, they’re every entitled to an equal share of the group upon the termination of the wedding. They will, in fact, comply with another division.
What group property doesn’t imply
The most typical false impression about group property is that it makes every partner accountable for the money owed incurred by the opposite. Not so.
The group property is accountable for these money owed. However when the group ends, at demise or divorce, every partner is liable just for their very own money owed.
In the event that they get a share of the group property, that property is that individual’s separate property.
The separate property of 1 partner just isn’t accountable for money owed incurred by the opposite. Household Code § 913. That’s true whether or not it’s separate property delivered to the wedding or separate property created by divorce.
In my opinion, marriage in California is, for functions of debtor/creditor questions, a menage a trois: the 2 spouses and the Group.
Extra
When one partner recordsdata chapter
Group property after partner’s chapter
Make your divorce bankruptcy-proof
Picture courtesy of Flickr and Justin Oberman.
