Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: inheritance

It is your private property as long as you do not mix it in [comingle] with the martial funds. You would have received the money whether or not you were married so it is not considered community property. But if you put it into a joint bank account, use it to pay joint debts, tell your wife that the money is "ours",etc., you may transform it into community property.

Re: inheritance

When you receive an inheritance it is separate property unless you make a gift of the property to the community overtly, or implicitly (by comingling assets). Converting separate property to community property is called transmutation. A spouse in a divorce is entitled to 1/2 of the community property, but none of the separate property of the other spouse.

Re: inheritance

Thank you for your posting on LawGuru.com, and the opportunity for me to help you by responding to your posting.

The answer to your question is that an inheritance is separate (not community property). However, as the other answers have alluded to, most people commingle an inheritance, and if you use it to pay off community property debt, deposit it into a community property bank or brokerage account, you could be changing it from separate property, into community property.

One of the best ways to protect yourself is to make sure that you have a prenuptual agreement spelling out the nature of property like this ahead of time, and that's my recommendation to you.

I hope this helps. If you do have other questions, feel that you need legal representation, or want legal advice, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. It's my pleasure to help in any way that I can. Thank you.