Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: property rights of married couples

Well, I'd have to say it depends upon what you mean by "protected." If you invest in his separate property, that gives rise to an interest therein that whittles away at its former 100% separate property status. If the funds so used are your separate property, you'll get a personal interest; if the funds are really community funds, your marital community will get an interest, in which ultimately (upon death or divorce) you or your estate would share. Remember that money you or he earn from wages or salaries while married is community money.

So, your investment is not "protected" in the sense that there is something like the FDIC out there, insuring you against losses. It's more like a legal concept is there that says when married people commingle separate property with the other's separate property, or with community property, the result will be a blended interest in the commingled-contributio asset. Sometimes the term "pro-tanto interest" is used to describe the sliver of interest that a marital community, or the other spouse, derives when once totall-separate assets benefit from infusions of the other's, or the community's, money.

Family-law attorneys have, and use, software that works out problems based on pro-tanto interests based on theories the courts have laid down for divorces or estates where assets have been commingled. The basic concept you need to understand is that the law recognizes that upon death or divorce your contribution to improving his separate property should be given recognition.

As a practical matter, I'd advise keeping records and if there is a level of suspicion or antagonism in the family, have at least a brief consultation with a family-law specialist as to whether the protection built into the law is sufficient or whether you should ask your husband to enter into a pos-nuptial agreement for your mutual comfort and benefit, and perhaps that of your heirs as well.