My guess is that it isa conflation of “community property” with “common law”, as both relate to marriage and are similar enough in name that it is easy to swap them in memory.
Also, community property is the one more relevant to what happens in divorce, while common law is about formation of marriage.
You're right, that's where I got confused. Since I was married, everything was considered community property, so it's good to know California doesn't enforce community property on non-married couples, since it doesn't recognize common law marriages.
> Since I was married, everything was considered community property
Whether this is true (in the absence of a prenup, etc.) depends on record keeping and where (and particularly when) your assets come from; the somewhat oversimplified version is that a
ssets (and debts) acquired between the beginning of marriage and separation that are not gifts or inheritances specifically intended for one or the other of the spouses are community property by default, those acquired before marriage or after separation (even before divorce) are separate property.
My guess is that it isa conflation of “community property” with “common law”, as both relate to marriage and are similar enough in name that it is easy to swap them in memory.
Also, community property is the one more relevant to what happens in divorce, while common law is about formation of marriage.