Community property

Community property, legal treatment of the possessions of married people as belonging to both of them. Generally, all property acquired through the efforts of either spouse during the marriage is considered community property. The law treats this property like the assets of a business partnership. The history of marital property law shows a gradual spread of the community-property system. In ancient Rome—except for one period—wives had few property rights; whatever was theirs became their husbands’...