The court considers the property earned during the course of the marriage as owned in common by husband and wife with each spouse entitled to an equal one-half share. All debts incurred during marriage, unless the creditor was specifically looking to the separate property of one spouse for payment, are community property debts. Separate property of one spouse includes gifts and inheritances given just to that spouse, personal injury awards received by that spouse, and the proceeds of a pension that vested before marriage. A business owned by one spouse before the marriage remains his or her separate property during the marriage, although a portion of it may be considered community property if the business increased in value during the marriage or both spouses worked at it. Property purchased with a combination of separate and community funds is part community and part separate property, so long as a spouse is able to show that some separate funds were used.
Separate property mixed together with community property generally becomes community property.
Once the approach your state takes to property division is determined, there are four issues that must be addressed. You must identify all assets owned by you and your spouse. You need to classify these assets as marital or nonmarital. In so doing, you must determine if the marital or nonmarital estate should be reimbursed for any efforts of a spouse or contributions made in acquisition of the asset. The value of the assets must be determined.