It is customary for spouses to give each other gifts during marriage. A spouse may try to argue through his or her family law attorney that a particular gift should be considered community property during a divorce, because it is was purchased during the marriage and there was no writing transferring the property from community property to the separate property of one spouse. However, a judge will not order the return of most gifts to the community. Gifts made from one spouse to the other spouse during a marriage do not require a writing if the gift is commensurate to the marital standard of living of the parties and is used principally by the spouse that received the gift.
California Family Code Section 852(c) states that transmutations do “not apply to a gift between the spouses of clothing, wearing apparel, jewelry, or other tangible articles of a personal nature that is used solely or principally by the spouse to whom the gift is made and that is not substantial in value taking into account the circumstances of the marriage.”
Please note that this legal advice does not establish a family law attorney-client relationship. This is a legal advertisement for Treviño Law, Inc, an Orange County family law firm.