Definition of "Community property"

Property owned and held jointly and equally shared by each spouse. It is purchased during their marriage, regardless of the wage-earning situation of either spouse. A spouse may not make a gift of or dispose of community property without valuable consideration and written consent of the other spouse. Also, necessaries such as furniture etc, may not be disposed of without written consent of the other spouse. On a co-owners death, one half belongs to the survivor as separate party. One half goes by will to the descendant devises or by succession to the survivor. Property owned before marriage, and property acquired after marriage by gift, inheritance, or by purchase with separate funds can be exempted from the couples community property. Such property is called separate property and can be conveyed or mortgaged without the signature of the owners spouse.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Provision in a lease agreement in which the lessee is given the right to buy the property at the end of lease term. In many cases, the option price is attractive to encourage acquisition. ...

Also known as “cap rate” or “income yield”, Capitalization Rate is a useful way to compute the rate of return on a real estate investment. It is commonly used in the ...

A proposal to buy property at a specified price. The seller of the property has the options of accepting the offer, rejecting it, or making a counteroffer. For example, John signs a listing ...

An individual's possessions at his residences, such as furniture. A listing of items and their costs is recommended to obtain proper insurance coverage and as support for insurance ...

The real and personal assets of a person at the date of death. The distribution of the assets to the heirs depends on the provision of the will. If no will exists, the distribution is based ...

model depicting on paper what a structure physically looks like. The dimensions are draw on a proportionate basis to the real thing. An example is a scale of an existing or proposed office ...

Small one story frame house or cottage. ...

Relationship between individuals or entities whereby rights given to one are returned in kind to the other. An example is where one person has the right to use facilities of another with ...

Unregistered stock or bond that pays the holder dividends (if stock) or interest (if bonds) as well as the selling price when sold (if stock) or principal (if bonds are held to maturity). ...

Popular Real Estate Questions