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sources of payments and asset acquisitions are inherently
inconsistent with the concept of a continued marital community
and obviously likely to disrupt that community.
IV. Conclusion
“Any determination” in section 6015(a) refers to
determinations of whether an individual taxpayer is entitled to
7(...continued)
of the equal ownership:
The equal ownership of the community property assets
and acquisitions has never been dependent upon a
calculus of labor or talent. Both man and woman
equally are partners in the marriage; both equally
share marital property, regardless of whether or not
the actual asset was earned by one or the other. For
example, if the wife is a highly paid attorney and the
husband is a school teacher or works primarily at home,
the differential in actual earnings or earning capacity
is irrelevant to the ownership rights of each. The
notion of marriage as a true legal partnership extends
to all the property earned by either partner during
marriage. In the common law states, if a husband earns
$60,000 a year and the wife's role is that of a
homemaker, whether she has the primary responsibility
of raising the couple's children or not, she will be
entitled only to a statutory fraction of her husband's
estate on his death, one-half to one-third in most
states. During the existence of the marriage she has
no direct interest in his earnings, aside from her
right to support.
In the community property system, on the other
hand, both spouses have a continuing half ownership of
the marital earnings from the beginning of the marriage
and from the time of acquisition of the property. Each
party in the law today is an equal agent of the
partnership, binding it if acting within the scope of
his or her authority and if acting for the joint
benefit of the family. The California community
property system adds to joint ownership the right of
equal management and control.
Bassett, California Community Property Law, sec. 1:18 (2005 ed.).
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