Also known as: ganancial property · community property · gananciales
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A form of marital property regime derived from Spanish civil law under which assets acquired during marriage through the efforts of either spouse are owned equally by both spouses in undivided halves. At dissolution the assets are divided in just proportions after considering statutory factors such as each spouse's contributions to acquisition and appreciation, homemaker services, and the duration of the marriage. The regime treats marriage as a public contract that incorporates sharing rules unless the spouses contract otherwise.
Guillermo Guzman and Guadalupe Gallegos held title to their home as community property with right of survivorship. After their divorce the court applied the severance rule, converting their interests into equal tenancies in common so that neither retained a survivorship right in the other's share. Guillermo could now convey or encumber his undivided half without Guadalupe's consent.
Genevieve Gardner and Glenn Gross divorced after a twelve-year marriage. The court classified the lake cabin purchased with marital bonus income and the vested stock options earned during the marriage as ganancial community property. It then divided both assets in just proportions after weighing Glenn's homemaker contributions and the duration of the marriage.
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Georgia Gibbs claimed a community property share of her late husband's railroad retirement benefits under ganancial rules. The Supreme Court held that federal preemption prevented the state community property regime from reaching those benefits even though they had been earned during the marriage.
Greta Goldstein executed a deed purporting to sever her ganancial interest in jointly held realty without her husband's knowledge. The court ruled the attempted severance ineffective because community property with right of survivorship requires mutual action or a court decree to convert the interests into tenancies in common.
Galaxy Technologies stock acquired with marital earnings was titled in one spouse's name in a common-law state. A divorce court in the ganancial community property state attempted to divide the shares, but the situs court refused full faith and credit to the decree because it lacked jurisdiction over the out-of-state realty equivalent.
Greenleaf Farms' founder earned an MBA during marriage using marital funds. The court held that the degree itself was not ganancial community property subject to division because it represented future earning capacity rather than an asset acquired during the marriage.
Under the ganancial system each spouse owns an undivided one-half interest in assets acquired during marriage by either spouse's efforts. Common-law states treat earnings and acquisitions as the separate property of the acquiring spouse unless title is placed in joint names.
The court assigns each spouse's separate property to that spouse and divides the community property in just proportions after considering contributions to acquisition, homemaker services, duration of the marriage, and other statutory factors.
Yes. The Uniform Probate Code severs the interests of former spouses in property held as community property with right of survivorship at the time of divorce and converts them into equal tenancies in common.
…Cal. Rptr. 41]) have held that the Family Law Act (Civ. Code, § 4000 et seq.) requires division of the property according to community property principles, and one decision ( Beckman v. Mayhew (1975) 49 Cal. App.3d 529 [122 Cal. Rptr. 604]) has rejected that holding. We take this opportunity to resolve that controversy and to…