Even if you owned a house before marriage, and never put your spouse on title, each time a mortgage payment is made the community is gaining an interest in your separate property. solution: premarital agreement.
Even if you owned a house before marriage, and never put your spouse on title, if you refinance the property during the marriage, the community will be gaining an interest each time the new mortgage payment is made. Solution: premarital agreement.
Even if you owned a business before marriage, if it appreciates in value during the marriage, the community is gaining an interest. Solution: premarital agreement.
Even if you owned a house before marriage, and never put your spouse on title, each time you made improvements to the property while you were married, the community has gained an interest in your separate property. Solution: premarital agreement.
If you had an investment account, IRA, or 401(k) before marriage, and you contributed to it while you were married, part of it is community property, and part of it is separate property. But it’s up to you to prove the amount of money in the account that is your separate property at the time of your marriage. You are going to need your account statements from the time of marriage to prove your separate interest. So keep all of your account statements from the month of your marriage forever, just in case. Because the financial institution may only keep copies for about seven years and without proof, all of it will be deemed community. Solution: premarital agreement.
For those who did not get a premarital agreement, you can get a post nuptial agreement to handle all the same issues.
