Law Commons^™

Rights Of Creditors To Collect Marital Debts After Divorce In Community Property Jurisdictions, James L. Musselman

Pace Law Review

The primary thrust of this Article is to address the post-divorce liability issue outlined in Part III from the perspective of debtor-creditor law. The rules adopted in most of the community property jurisdictions with respect to this issue appear to be primarily focused on the perspective of marital property and family law without regard to general debtor-creditor law principles and policies. For example, basic fraudulent transfer law has been ignored in those jurisdictions and not applied in the usual manner. As a result, the rules developed in those jurisdictions with regard to the post-divorce liability issue are not consistent with …

Liberty And Community In Marriage: Expanding On Massey’S Proposal For A Community Property Option In New Hampshire, Jo Carrillo

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

This article argues that intimate partners should have the right to adopt a sharing economy within marriage. Forty-one U.S. states employ a separate property regime for property acquired during marriage; of these, only two allow married couples to opt out of the separate property system and hold their assets as community property. Nine U.S. states are community property states. To encourage equal partnership in marriage, Calvin Massey proposed that New Hampshire, a separate property state, enable a community property option. This essay expands on Massey’s proposal by comparing it to three other marriage reform proposals: two based on privatization, and …

The Property Rights Of Spouses Cohabiting Without Marriage In Israel - A Comparative Commentary, Menashe Shava

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Why New Hampshire Should Permit Married Couples To Choose Community Property, Calvin Massey

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Two states, Alaska and Tennessee, offer married couples the choice of holding their property as separate or community property. Another nine states use community property as the default arrangement. Yet in each of those nine states a couple can opt out of community property rules by agreement. Only in the remaining thirty-nine states are married couples forced to accept separate property. There is no good reason for this condition to exist. This essay sets forth the advantages of offering married couples the choice of community or separate property and deals with some expected objections to this proposal. Section I …

The Illusion Of Equality: The Failure Of The Community Property Reform To Achieve Management Equality, Elizabeth Carter

Journal Articles

The article focuses on the equal management laws in the community property reform for the well-being and future prosperity of the family. Topics discussed include separate property regime and the community property regime in the U.S., examines the history of the reform era and argues that equality was not the primary goal of the legal reform and examines how spouses actually managed their money in the pre-1970s era.

The Illusion Of Equality: The Failure Of The Community Property Reform To Achieve Management Equality, Elizabeth Carter

Elizabeth R. Carter

The Superior Position Of The Creditor In The Community Property Regime: Has The Community Become A Mere Creditor Collection Device?, Andrea B. Carroll

Andrea Beauchamp Carroll

This article is a first step in an effort to critically examine the continued vitality of the community regime for regulating spousal property. Specifically, the article examines the American community property regimes in light of how they measure up against non-community property states in terms of creditor protection. The results are often surprising. The community regime grants creditors access to a variety of property for all manner of debts. For instance, the entirety of the community property, including the non-debtor spouse's wages, may be seized in some community property states for the other's premarital debts. That the non-debtor spouse has …

The Origin And Civil Law Foundation Of The Community Property System, Why California Adopted It And Why Community Property Principles Benefit Women, Caroline Bermeo Newcombe

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Marriage, Money, Notice, And Presumptions, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article functions as an intellectual checklist for navigating community property issues in divorce cases where title to the family home has been taken in only one spouse’s name. The discussion includes potential claims, constructive and inquiry notice, and the evidence code presumption.

The Superior Position Of The Creditor In The Community Property Regime: Has The Community Become A Mere Creditor Collection Device?, Andrea B. Carroll

Journal Articles

This article is a first step in an effort to critically examine the continued vitality of the community regime for regulating spousal property. Specifically, the article examines the American community property regimes in light of how they measure up against non-community property states in terms of creditor protection. The results are often surprising. The community regime grants creditors access to a variety of property for all manner of debts. For instance, the entirety of the community property, including the non-debtor spouse's wages, may be seized in some community property states for the other's premarital debts. That the non-debtor spouse has …

The Passage Of Community Property Laws, 1939-1947: Was "More Than Money" Involved?, Jennifer E. Sturiale

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Part I of this article reviews the legal landscape that provided the backdrop against which Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania later adopted community property laws. It also examines the tax consequences of the two Supreme Court cases, Lucas v. Earl and Poe v. Seaborn, that resulted in the disparate tax treatment of married couples in common law and community property law states. Part II briefly reviews the subsequent passage of community property laws by Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania; the passage of a federal tax reduction bill that provided for equal treatment of community property law and …

Interference With Contract And The “Manager’S Privilege”: Huynh V Vu, 2003, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a California case which held that, in an action by a broker against a seller’s husband, who managed the seller’s property, for tortious inference, the husband was entitled to assert the defense of “manager’s privilege.”

The Undue Influence Presumption Vs The Record Title Presumption: Marriage Of Delaney, 2003, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a California case which held that when an interspousal transaction is to one spouse’s advantage, the Family Code presumption that the transaction was a result of undue influence is trumped by the Evidence Code’s presumption of record title.

Characterizing Separate Or Community Expenditures On Community Or Separate Assets, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article analyzes community property and separate property distributions on dissolution of marriage in California.

Community-Funded Improvements To Separate Property: Marriage Of Wolfe, 2001, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a California case which held that community funded improvements to a spouse’s separate property are not presumed to be a gift and that the community is entitled to reimbursement.

Spousal Reimbursement Rights: Marriage Of Cochran, 2001, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a California case which held that on dissolution of marriage a spouse is entitled to reimbursement for payment of 1) a fee required for family home building permit, and 2) construction loan consideration, both paid from separate property.

The Legal Effect Of Marital Separation Agreements Upon Community Property Status: Is It Time To Amend The Constitutional Definition Of Wife's Separate Property., Teresa A. Hunter

St. Mary's Law Journal

The present constitutional definition of married women’s separate property serves to protect the wife’s property rights and to preserve the community property system in Texas. However, the policy reasons for the constitutional definition no longer apply, since there is no present danger of the legislature reducing the property rights of married women or abandoning the community property system. Further, the needs and customs of the people of Texas have changed since the adoption of the original Texas Constitution in 1845. Today, it is estimated that thirty percent of couples who marry in the United States eventually divorce and sixty percent …

The Estate Tax Marital Deduction, Harold Dubroff, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

The estate tax marital deduction, section 2056 of the Internal Revenue Code, was enacted in 1948, along with the split-income provisions of the income tax law and the marital deduction and split-gift provisions of the gift tax law. The purpose was to give married residents of common law states approximately the same federal tax advantages that were available to married residents of community property states. Ordinarily, upon the death of a married resident of a community property state, only one-half of the community property is taxed in the decedent's estate. Section 2056 achieves approximately the same result for married residents …

Property—Community Property And Joint Tenancy: Creating Surviorship Rights In Washington—In Re Estate Of Olson, 87 Wn. 2d 855, 577 P.2d 302 (1976), Bruce Lamka

Washington Law Review

This note presents two analyses of the Olson decision. Under the first analysis, the amended Initiative is interpreted to require a writing executed by the marital community in order to convert property from community to joint tenancy ownership. It is argued that this interpretation is unreasonable and will produce an unsatisfactory result in some cases. The second analysis is based on community property law: both spouses must participate in the change of ownership because the property rights of both are affected. This reasoning better supports the Olson decision. It was incompletely developed in the opinion, however, because the court did …

The Uniform Disposition Of Community Property Rights At Death Act, Sarah N. Welling

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Joint Tenancy And Community Property, Yale B. Griffith

Washington Law Review

The public demand in Washington which led to the adoption of the joint tenancy initiative is not surprising in view of the widespread use of this form of title in other states. However, Washington is still a community property state and the people's desire for joint tenancy with its popular survivorship feature does not necessarily indicate their intention to change the community property system. Laymen will commonly use community funds to buy property and will now take title in joint tenancy, fully hoping to have some of the advantages of each. This practice has led to a deluge of litigation …

A Review In Brief Of Principles Of Community Property, William Q. De Funiak

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.