What State's Laws Apply to Property Division if a Couple Lives in Different States
My question involves a marriage in the state of: California
1 Spouse always lived in noncommunity property state, before and during marriage (IN)
1 spouse always lived in community property state, before and during marriage (CA)
Each spouse entered into a home mortgage prior to marriage (1 IN property, 1 CA property) with only their single respective name on Deed, and made mortgage payments from their respective salaries during the marriage.
No joint bank accounts.
Never domiciled together during the marriage.
the spouse living in the comm prop states earns more than the other spouse.
no children involved.
Do community property rules apply if the spouses have never lived together, and therefore clearly did not support the others lifestyle?
Is it better for the higher earning spouse in comm prop state to try to get the noncommunity property spouse to file for divorce in IN?
thank you for your advice.
Re: 1 Spouse Lived in Community Prop State, 1 in Noncomm Prop State- Division of Asse
It really depends on what the two of you can agree to. If you each agree to keep only those assets currently in your own name, it would be fairly simple no matter where you file.
Re: What State's Laws Apply to Property Division if a Couple Lives in Different State
If the two of you can agree on the division of assets then there won’t be a legal problem to address here. It is only if you two cannot agree and must instead have a court decide the dispute will it matter. In that regard, it will matter in part in what state the divorce is litigated. That said, when it comes to real estate, in general the approach used is that the form of ownership is determined by the laws of the state in which the property is located.