Question

I’ve heard that Washington is a community property state.  What does this mean?

Answer

Community property refers to the way that Washington laws treat the property of married people.*  In general, married people in Washington have two kinds of property: community and separate.  Community property is property that both spouses own equally, while separate property is property owned only by an individual spouse.

As a general matter “property” means anything a person owns.  So, when we’re talking about property in this article we’re talking about everything from jewelry, to cars, to houses and land, to stocks and bonds, and so on.  Any kind of property that a person can acquire can be characterized as community or separate in Washington.

So, how do you decide what’s community and what’s separate?  Washington courts apply a general rule to determine the character of property:  All property acquired prior to marriage is separate property, and all property acquired during marriage is community property.

Any property that a spouse receives as a gift, or under a will or through inheritance is also considered separate property even if it was received during marriage.

In addition, separate property can occasionally turn into community property if it’s “co-mingled” with community property in such a way that it’s no longer possible to tell which is which.

To simplify things a bit, here are some examples of community,  separate and co-mingled property:

• House purchased after 5 years of marriage:  community.
• A paycheck for the first week  back at work after the honeymoon:  community.
• Car received from parents on 16th birthday:  separate.
• Grandma’s wedding ring received under will during marriage:  separate.
• A bank account containing only money earned prior to marriage:  separate.
• A bank account containing a mixture of money earned prior to and during marriage: co-mingled property that may or may not be considered community.

While the two distinctions don’t matter to most people much during marriage, the distinction between community and separate property can become very important when a marriage ends – either by death or divorce.

You see, if a piece of property is considered community, then both spouses are presumed to have an equal interest in it.  Thus, each spouse is presumed to be entitled to at least half of that property.

So, when one spouse dies, the other spouse is entitled to keep at least half of the community owned property, and that half cannot be given to anyone else.

And, when a couple gets divorced, their property must be divided between them.   Very generally speaking, each party is entitled to keep their separate party, and must divide their community property in equal parts between the two of them.

It’s important to note, however, that in Washington a court has the power to divide all the property of both spouses whether it is considered separate or community.