How Does Community Property Affect Estate Planning?
The concept of community property is used to determine the ownership of property for married individuals. Under the community property concept as applied in California, all property acquired by a married individual during the marriage is classified as community property, except for gifts or inheritances received by a spouse. These are classified as separate property. Also, classified as separate property is any property a spouse owned prior to the marriage. The classification of property as community or separate does not depend upon the form of title in which the property is held. Each spouse is considered to own one-half of the community property regardless of his or her contribution to the marital assets. Neither spouse can sell or give away part of the community property during the marriage unless the other spouse agrees. Each spouse can dispose of their own separate property and one half of the community property as they wish. The concept of community property resents no difficulty
