Community Property

Community property is any property acquired after marriage, including real estate, personal property, money, and debts. Both spouses own the same amount of community property.

In Washington state, the property that belongs to a person is called separate property. Even in marriage! For example, the balance of your bank account before the wedding, property owned before marriage, and any other things you had before marriage. After marriage, though, is different since any money earned and items bought from either wife or husband are named a community property hence why both couples have fifty percent ownership.

Generally, a community property agreement (CPA) is an estate planning tool for any married couple. To avoid probate court, anything owned before marriage becomes community property. The process helps wills, estates, conservatorships, and guardianships, as well as the commitment of a person with psychiatric disorders to institutions meant to rehabilitate them.

How it works

If you and your spouse own a home jointly, half of the home’s worth is considered communal property. If you own a car together, each spouse also owns half of the vehicle. Overall, community property includes any debt accumulated during the marriage.

Examples of Community Property

For example, an IRA in the name of an individual with a spouse would be deemed communal property collected throughout a marriage. Unless the spouse provides written consent to have someone designated as the primary beneficiary, the spouse residing in a community or marital property state must be the sole primary beneficiary of an investment account. Generally, all assets are designated as marital property.

Seattle Property Legal Services include:

We represent individuals, corporations, lenders, and institutions in a full spectrum of real estate matters, including commercial and residential purchase and sale agreements, acquisitions, listing agreements, title issues, and escrow matters.  Seattle property legal services also assist clients in navigating and structuring commercial and residential lending and banking transactions, deeds of trust, loan agreements, liens, seller-financed lending, and foreclosure and loan default workouts.

We have successfully handled a wide variety of real estate transactions.