“Under community property principles, marital status gives rise to a panoply of rights and obligations with respect to certain property interests acquired or enhanced during the marriage. Husband and wife share an equal interest in community assets. However, community property should not be confused with other forms of joint property ownership. Fam. Code § 750 provides a married couple may hold property as joint tenants, tenants in common, or as community property. Under Civ. Code § 683, the ownership of property by several persons is either: (1) of joint interests; (2) of partnership interests; (3) of interests in common; (4) of community interest of husband and wife. Another form of joint ownership recognized in other states, tenancy by the entirety, is not expressly recognized in California except by statute providing that property acquired by married persons as tenants by the entirety is presumptively community property. [Fam. Code, § 2580, subd. (a)(2)]”
“Community property differs from all other forms of joint ownership. While marriage is frequently referred to in popular parlance as a partnership, it is not a legal partnership to which the rules of partnership law properly apply. [Kenworthy v. Hadden, 87 Cal. App. 3d 696, 151 Cal. Rptr. 169 (3d Dist. 1978)] A joint tenant, or tenant in common may freely convey his or her respective interest in the property [Civ. Code, § 683.2]—not so with community property. The respective rights of spouses to manage and control community property differ greatly from those of joint tenants. Both spouses must join in conveyances of real property, and the disposition of personal property is also subject to certain restrictions. [For example, see Fam. Code, § 1102] The entire community estate is liable for debts incurred by either spouse before or during marriage. [Fam. Code, § 910; Hansford v. Lassar, 53 Cal. App. 3d 364, 125 Cal. Rptr. 804 (2d Dist. 1975)] No such obligation is imposed on a joint tenancy or tenancy in common. The right of survivorship and other incidents of ownership in joint tenancy are fundamentally different from community property. A surviving joint tenant acquires the entire estate to the exclusion of heirs of the decedent. [Tenhet v. Boswell, 18 Cal. 3d 150, 133 Cal. Rptr. 10, 554 P.2d 330 (1976)] A surviving spouse is entitled to one-half of the community property, while the remaining passes by will or intestate succession. [Prob. Code, § 100] However, a husband and wife may agree in writing to otherwise divide their community property. [See Prob. Code, § 100, subd. (b)] A community estate and a joint tenancy cannot co-exist in the same property [Tomaier v. Tomaier, 23 Cal. 2d 754, 146 P.2d 905 (1944)] Where two spouses own property together as joint tenants or tenants in common, the spouse’s respective interests belong to each separately. [Estate of Mitchell, 76 Cal. App. 4th 1378, 91 Cal. Rptr. 2d 192 (4th Dist. 1999), review denied, (Apr. 19, 2000)] Because of widespread misapprehension regarding the consequences of spouses taking title to property in a joint form other than community property, the Legislature created a presumption, applicable in marital dissolution proceedings, that treats property acquired in joint form as community. [Fam. Code, § 2581] Effective in 2001, property may also be held as “community property with right of survivorship;” upon death the community property passes to the surviving spouse. [Civ. Code, § 682.1] This new form of ownership combines the characteristics of community property ownership with the survivorship feature of joint tenancy title.”
[California Civil Practice Family Law Litigation [certain citations omitted]]
