Tristan tegroen law

Unless you have a prenuptial agreement which contracts out of California law, the State has Decided for You how your property will be characterized

Community Property

FC 760 provides that except as otherwise provided by statute, all property, real or personal, wherever situated, acquired by a married person during the marriage while domiciled in this state is community property - this is the fundamental rule characterizing property pursuant to FC 760. What does this mean? It is commonly referred to as the community property presumption and it means that if you come into ownership of property during a marriage, this is community property. This applies to assets and debts. Some notable exceptions are those assets provided for under FC 770 and 771, transmutations under FC 850 and property which is subject to a valid prenuptial agreement.

Separate Property

FC 770 provices that: (a) Separate property of a married person includes all of the following: (1) All property owned by the person before marriage. (2) All property acquired by the person after marriage by gift, bequest, devise, or descent. (3) The rents, issues, and profits of the property described in this section. (b) A married person may, without the consent of the person’s spouse, convey the person’s separate property. 771. (a) The earnings and accumulations of a spouse and the minor children living with, or in the custody of, the spouse, after the date of separation of the spouses, are the separate property of the spouse. (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the earnings and accumulations of an unemancipated minor child related to a contract of a type described in Section 6750 shall remain the sole legal property of the minor child. 772. After entry of a judgment of legal separation of the parties, the earnings or accumulations of each party are the separate property of the party acquiring the earnings or accumulations. This rule abrogates what might be deemed community property. Property that you acquired prior to the marriage is not community property. Property that you inherit or are gifted during the marriage is not community property. This could apply to any gift from a spouse or a family member. A birthday gift, lets say a diamond ring, is not community property. Furnishings or other items that you owned before the marriage, are not community property.

Assets that have Both Separate Property and Community Property Interests

The law is not black and white either. You could start work, lets say for a corporate entity which allows you to contribute to a 401 (K) plan, ten years prior to marriage. At the time of marriage you have saved $120,000 in your plan. Then you marry and continue to add to the plan. What then? The $120,000 and its growth is separate property. The contributions through date of separation, and its growth, will be community property unless some other rule applies.

Some Interesting Hypotheses which Courts Deal With

You buy a house prior to marriage; during the marriage you pay down the separate mortgage debt. Or, you buy a house prior to marriage, during the marriage you pay down the separate mortgage debt, and then you refinance the mortgage, take out some money for improvements, and then add your spouse's name to title? These situations are dealt with under case law, with some of the most notable cases being In re Marriage of Moore 28 Cal.3d 366 (Cal. 1980) and Marriage of Marsden 181 Cal. Rptr. 910 (1982). These factual scenarios occur very frequently usually warranting a forensic accountant to do some mathematics.

What Happens if you Use Separate Money to Purchase An Interest in the Asset?

You inherit some money prior to marriage, or you sell a house that owned prior to the marriage, and use this sum or proceeds to buy a house during the marriage - and you take title on the new acquisition with your spouse? Now what?

California Has a Statute which Applies to Using Separate Money to Purchase Community Property

FC 2640 provides that: (a) “Contributions to the acquisition of property,” as used in this section, include downpayments, payments for improvements, and payments that reduce the principal of a loan used to finance the purchase or improvement of the property but do not include payments of interest on the loan or payments made for maintenance, insurance, or taxation of the property. (b) In the division of the community estate under this division, unless a party has made a written waiver of the right to reimbursement or has signed a writing that has the effect of a waiver, the party shall be reimbursed for the party’s contributions to the acquisition of property of the community property estate to the extent the party traces the contributions to a separate property source. The amount reimbursed shall be without interest or adjustment for change in monetary values and may not exceed the net value of the property at the time of the division. (c) A party shall be reimbursed for the party’s separate property contributions to the acquisition of property of the other spouse’s separate property estate during the marriage, unless there has been a transmutation in writing pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 850) of Part 2 of Division4, or a written waiver of the right to reimbursement. The amount reimbursed shall be without interest or adjustment for change in monetary values and may not exceed the net value of the property at the time of the division.

Ignorance of these Rules Court May Hurt You

Many people overlook these rules and attempt to use a broadbrush approach to their cases when representing themselves. May 24, 2026. t