Community Property - California Intestate Division

Although the exact property which is classified as "Community Property" will differ between individuals, the laws which govern its distribution apply to every California resident who dies without a valid Will.

Some states provide the surviving spouse with different amounts of the deceased spouse's share of the community property, based upon factors such as the surviving spouse's status as parent of all the deceased spouse's children or whether any parent or sibling is living.

California does not make any of these distinctions: The surviving spouse receives the full amount of the deceased spouse's community property.

This simple distribution does not require any additional calculation and is, therefore, excluded from the California Intestacy Calculator.  When entering the estate value, do not include the value of any community property.