separate property

separate property

The property that is entirely owned by one spouse, even in a community property state. Separate property generally includes property received as an inheritance or as a gift or property owned by one spouse before marriage.

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Separate Property

In marriage and divorce law, real or personal property owned by only one spouse. Separate property exists even in community property jurisdictions. It includes property owned by each spouse before the marriage, and any property given to one spouse as a gift or inheritance. It may also include property that the spouses agree to keep separate. If separate property is liquidated during the marriage ? for example, if a spouse sells a house he/she owns separately ? the cash resulting from the sale may also qualify as separate property.

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separate property

Property owned by either spouse before marriage,or inherited by one or the other after marriage.Contrast with community property. In other states,a divorce court will take into consideration the separate nature of property when making decisions to divide property or award alimony.One tricky aspect of the separate property issue is the interest in minerals,oil and gas,crops, timber, or postmarital improvements on or under separate land.Such interests do not always carry with them the separate property characterization.