Community Property State

A community property state is a state that recognizes assets and debts acquired during a marriage as being jointly owned and belonging equally to both spouses, regardless of which spouse acquired the assets or debts. This means that in a divorce, assets acquired during the marriage are commonly split 50/50, but this can vary by state. 

There are exceptions to what falls under community property, like assets acquired by gift or inheritance, property owned before the marriage, and certain other types of property.

Currently, there are nine community property states in the US: 

• Arizona
• California
• Idaho
• Louisiana
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Texas
• Washington
• Wisconsin