In community property states, spouses are considered joint owners of nearly all assets and debts acquired in marriage. However, most states follow common law which allows spouses to own property individually. The type of law your state follows dictates how property is divided upon divorce or death. Under common law, if someone is the only person named on a document—such as a title, registration document or deed—it’s considered theirs and theirs alone. There are currently only nine community property states in the U.S. and they are: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Therefore in these states, when marriage is terminated assets are split 50/50 if they were acquired while dominiciled in the state and not before or after the marriage. Whether common law or community property one thing you do maintain individually is your credit report and credit score. I’m Stewart Brown, a licensed Mortgage Loan Originator in Palm Springs, California here to simply topics in Real Estate and Mortgage Lending. Please like, share, follow and subscribe!
