Community property issue...

[rjakjr]

My wife and I married in Utah while I was on leave when I was in the Army stationed in Germany in 2002. After living in Germany until 31MAY05 when I ets'd out of the Army we lived in Utah where she's from. Superbowl XLI (Colts beat the Bears) we moved to Washington state where I'm from and have been here since then. About 3 weeks ago she told me she wants a divorce and wants to take our 2 boys back to Utah. I think it's because her dad has cancer that she found out about on her birthday in late July this year but she insists it's because we argue and she expects us to not argue--at all.

The question I'm wanting to ask is: since we married in Utah and we're going to divorce here in Washington state... does the community property law of this state affect us or does everything go off the state we were married in--Utah?

 

[LdiJ]

My wife and I married in Utah while I was on leave when I was in the Army stationed in Germany in 2002. After living in Germany until 31MAY05 when I ets'd out of the Army we lived in Utah where she's from. Superbowl XLI (Colts beat the Bears) we moved to Washington state where I'm from and have been here since then. About 3 weeks ago she told me she wants a divorce and wants to take our 2 boys back to Utah. I think it's because her dad has cancer that she found out about on her birthday in late July this year but she insists it's because we argue and she expects us to not argue--at all.

The question I'm wanting to ask is: since we married in Utah and we're going to divorce here in Washington state... does the community property law of this state affect us or does everything go off the state we were married in--Utah?

You are residents of WA and divorcing in WA, so the laws of WA apply.

 

[rjakjr]

Divorcing in Utah...

If I let her do what she wants to do... go back to Utah and divorce there... then would Utah's divorce laws apply going by that logic of the current state where the paperwork is filed? (I mean there would be no community property BS to deal with if divorcing in Utah.)

 

[LdiJ]

If I let her do what she wants to do... go back to Utah and divorce there... then would Utah's divorce laws apply going by that logic of the current state where the paperwork is filed? (I mean there would be no community property BS to deal with if divorcing in Utah.)

If she lives in UT for at least six months she could file there. If you accept UT jurisdiction then the laws of UT would apply.

However, community property state or not, you are still going to end up dividing marital assets. Its not like that issue is going to completely go away.