§ 8.05 NON-COMMUNITY PROPERTY BROUGHT INTO WASHINGTON; QUASI-COMMUNITY PROPERTY

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§ 8.05 NON-COMMUNITY PROPERTY BROUGHT INTO WASHINGTON; QUASI-COMMUNITY PROPERTY

The statutory creation of quasi-community property in Washington has changed the analysis of the consequences of bringing non-community property into the state. Previously, when spouses moved to Washington from a common-law state, any property owned by either spouse in his or her own name was simply characterized as that spouse's separate property. Under current law, to accurately determine each spouse's rights in the property, the practitioner must now make a closer analysis of the circumstances under which the property was acquired.

Property brought to Washington from another community property state that is clearly separate property (i.e., acquired prior to marriage, by gift or inheritance, or pursuant to a valid separate property agreement), as well as property from a common-law jurisdiction that would still have been deemed separate property even if the spouses had then lived in a community property state, will still be considered that spouse's separate property for all purposes. Of course, because all property that a spouse acquires in Washington while married is presumptively community property, the property could eventually lose its separate character through commingling unless care is taken to maintain its separate nature through segregation from other assets and maintenance of careful records of its separate nature.

Certain other types of separate property may also convert to community property once brought into the state. Separate property cash-value life insurance policies brought into Washington by spouses who formerly resided in a common-law state will acquire a gradually increasing community character that will carry over to the proceeds if the premiums are subsequently paid from community property. As noted in § 8.04, above, what once was a separate property term life insurance policy may be entirely converted to community property if the premiums are paid from community funds. Likewise, to the extent contributions are made to formerly separate property employment benefit plans while the spouses reside in Washington, such benefits will (subject to the analysis set forth in § 8.04) take on an ever-increasing community property characterization. Nevertheless, all of the types of separate property described in the previous two paragraphs, to the extent not converted into community property by agreement, by commingling, or by virtue of community property contributions made to it after moving to the state, will for all purposes of Washington law be treated as separate property following the spouses' migration to this state.

In contrast to the spouses' rights with respect to the "pure" separate property described above, different rights will arise at death if either party owns property that is characterized as "quasi-community property." These quasi-community property rights were created for the purpose of preventing one spouse from disinheriting the other spouse after moving to Washington with respect to...