§ 100 Community Property Division Rules

When a married person or someone in a registered domestic partnership dies, half of the stuff they owned together goes to the surviving partner and the other half stays with the dead person's estate.

Key Takeaways

•Default rule is a 50‑50 split of community property when one partner dies.
•Couples can sign a written agreement to split the property in a different way, either by overall value or by each item.
•A written agreement is not needed to have a non‑equal split; the law still allows it.

Example

John and Maria are married and own a house worth $300,000 and a car worth $20,000 together. John dies.

By default, Maria gets half of the total value ($160,000) and the other half belongs to John's estate. If John and Maria had a written agreement to split the house to Maria and the car to John's estate, that would be allowed too.

How to Calculate

Surviving spouse share = Total community property value × 0.5

Add up the value of everything the couple owned together (the community property).
Multiply that total by 0.5 (or divide by 2).
The result is the amount that belongs to the surviving spouse.

A couple’s community property is worth $200,000.

Result: Surviving spouse gets $100,000

(a) Upon the death of a person who is married or in a registered domestic partnership, one-half of the community property belongs to the surviving spouse and the other one-half belongs to the decedent. (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), spouses may agree in writing to divide their community property on the basis of a non pro rata division of the aggregate value of the community property or on the basis of a division of each individual item or asset of community property, or partly on each basis. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to require this written agreement in order to permit or recognize a non pro rata division of community property. (Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 50, Sec. 79. (SB 1005) Effective January 1, 2017.)

When a married person or someone in a registered domestic partnership dies, half of the stuff they owned together goes to the surviving partner and the other half stays with the dead person's estate.

Key Takeaways

•Default rule is a 50‑50 split of community property when one partner dies.
•Couples can sign a written agreement to split the property in a different way, either by overall value or by each item.
•A written agreement is not needed to have a non‑equal split; the law still allows it.

Example

John and Maria are married and own a house worth $300,000 and a car worth $20,000 together. John dies.

How to Calculate

Surviving spouse share = Total community property value × 0.5

Add up the value of everything the couple owned together (the community property).
Multiply that total by 0.5 (or divide by 2).
The result is the amount that belongs to the surviving spouse.

A couple’s community property is worth $200,000.

Result: Surviving spouse gets $100,000

Key Takeaways

Example

How to Calculate

Key Terms

References

§ 100 Community Property Division Rules

Key Takeaways

Example

How to Calculate

Key Terms

References

Key Takeaways

Example

How to Calculate

Key Terms

Related Statutes

References

Key Takeaways

Example

How to Calculate

Key Terms

Related Statutes

References