Basically, a Court will be required by the law, to restore the parties to the status of single persons (as distinct from
married persons); and to identify and evaluate the “Community Property” of the Marriage; in order to see that it is equally divided between the former husband and wife.
If there are children, the Court has to determine with whom they will reside, at any particular time of a given day. If Child or Spousal Support is appropriate, the Court will determine the time, amount and manner of payment of such support, and by whom.
As elsewhere stated in these articles, there are really only two ways to settle any legal matter, including a dissolution of a marriage: the parties will agree, and the Court will accept their agreement as a basis for the Court’s Judgment ; or, the contentions of each of the parties will have to be “tried” before the Judge, in order for the Judge to determine the one and only correct set of facts; and in order to then apply the appropriate law to the correct facts of the matter.
What is “Community Property?”
Community Property will be the earned product of the Marriage. The labor of each of the Parties of the Marriage, will be a Community asset, and not that of just one of the spouses. Property, or any other value, acquired by and through the labor of either of the spouses, during the Marriage, will be the Community Property of each of them, that means that it is instantly owned by the Community —- it’s not to be awarded in the future —- it is owned outright, form the time that the right to it comes into being.
For purposes of the application of this rule, the Marriage begins when the couple is pronounced as “Husband and Wife” during the solemn ceremony that unites them (see: “What Makes a Marriage, Anyway?”). That means: if you win the lottery on the night before your wedding, it’s Separate Property; and if you win the lottery on the on the moment following your wedding ceremony, it’s Community Property, under our “Common Law.”