Great question! When getting a divorce, you need to know how your state’s laws will apply to your situation.
Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington State, and Wisconsin are states that follow the legal rules of “Community Property” for marriage relationships. In these states, any property that is acquired or accumulated during marriage is presumed to be owned 50/50 by the spouses (known as “the Community”), regardless of who earned it.
The rules of Community Property matter because they have implications for dividing up your assets and debts during the divorce. You want to be familiar with how the rules work because assets that you think are untouchable (like the money related to your accumulated vacation and sick time at work) might have to be split with your spouse! Most Community Property states follow an “equitable approach” which means that not everything has to actually be divided up, but the division has to equal and fair to the spouses in some way. That could look like one person keeping the house and compensating the other spouse for half of the house’s value by giving them an extra car or sole ownership of a particular bank account.
You want to find out if your state follows the rules of Community Property so you can know what to expect and how to prepare for dividing up your assets and debts. If your spouse went out and racked up debt on a credit card, you could still be responsible for paying half of it! Or if your spouse has been stockpiling money into a separate account, you might be able to claim part of it for yourself. But, like anything, there are exceptions to these rules that you need to be aware of.
Understanding the rules of Community Property and knowing how to think about these things will give you an advantage and prepare you for what to expect during the divorce process.
If you want to know more about the rules of Community Property, how they can apply to your situation, and what the exceptions are, as well other information about what to expect during the divorce process, check out our course Divorce 101.
