In my experience as a family law attorney, I’ve seen countless people over the years who seemingly initially went into their marriage with the mentality of everything being a give and take between them and their spouse, what’s her’s should be his, and vice-versa. And, morally, maybe this should be the way things go.
But, when marriages end badly, all of that will many times go out the window! Even though at the purchase of certain items during the course of the marriage (be the items large or small) there was an “ours” mentality, with all the anger that has sometimes risen up between a husband and wife during, the two of them are now sadly fighting over material things.
What is Community Property in a Marriage, and Can a Family Law Lawyer Help Me Get Mine After My Divorce?
When you and your spouse were flirting and dating before you decided to actually get married, you probably never imagined that this initial romantic courtship would actually end up in real court! Still, the good thing about the time before you tied the knot is that anything you bought for your then girlfriend or boyfriend is referred to as ‘separate property’ by family law lawyers.
This is nothing like ‘community property’, because separate property didn’t get bought during the course of the marriage. This means that you can’t try to claim these items in court during the divorce, neither those or anything else that was labeled as a ‘gift’ during the marriage.
Plainly stated, community property is any property that is bought (or debts that occur) from the date of marriage on the marriage certificate until the time you two were legally separated.
Contact Your Sacramento Family Law Lawyer About Community Property During Your Divorce
It can be hard to determine what separate or gifted property is when trying to distinguish it from what you can claim as your community property when your marriage has ended. For expert legal counsel on these topics and issues, please don’t hesitate to contact Mercer Law in Sacramento, California for your initial free 15-minute consultation.
