Susan Paz said:
What is the name of your state? Calif
I recently inherited a great deal of money and am wondering if this is considered community property?
My response:
The general rule that marital acquisitions are community property is displaced when the manner of acquisition is by gift or inheritance. Property acquired during marriage by "gift, bequest, devise, or descent" (i.e., inter vivos or testamentary gift or intestate succession) is the acquiring spouse's separate property. [Ca Const. Art. I § 21; Ca Fam § 770(a)(2)]
Therefore, all property acquired during marriage and before separation, other than by gift or inheritance (Ca Fam § 770(a)(2)), is presumptively community property. [Ca Fam §§ 760, 771(a), 772; Marriage of Bonds (2000) 24 Cal.4th 1, 12, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d 252, 258; Marriage of Lehman (1998) 18 Cal.4th 169, 177, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 825, 828]
IAAL
