There are nine community property states. They are Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. In these jurisdictions, property brought to the marriage stays with the party who acquired it. Some jurisdictions exclude property that comes to the marriage by gift or inheritances.

Alaska permits couples to elect community property status for divorce purposes.

Some states allow for equitable distribution when justice is served. Legal consul should be consulted because the rules on distribution vary from state to state and have many exceptions.

Community property and its distribution in a divorce is at sharp variance from a common law property distribution.

See also Equitable Division (Distribution) of Property, Separate Property, Kitchen Sink States, Dual Classification.

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1. The Halves are Seldom Equal
   For divorce purposes, states are either community property states or equitable distribution states. Community property states each identify the spouse’s separate property, such as assets inherited or brought to the marriage, and everything else is subject to a 50-50 distribution. Equitable distribution states agree that a couple’s marital property is divided equitably. This does not necessarily mean 50-50.
   Contributed on 6/20/2007 by: DivorceDex.com Staff

   Category: Property Division  (Applicable in All States)

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