California divides property into two main categories for divorce purposes: community property and separate property.  Community property is defined as any assets that are acquired during marriage.  However, assets that a spouse receives during marriage from a gift or an inheritance will be that person’s separate property.  Property that a spouse owned prior to marriage is also that spouse’s separate property.  

When it comes time to divide assets, things can get tricky when spouses commingle their community property assets with their separate property assets.  If this happens in order for the spouse to retain their separate property interest that spouse will need to trace the separate property source.  It can be difficult to trace in the instance of commingling community property and separate property funds in one bank account.  Tracing can be much simpler for other assets, such as the contribution of separate property to the acquisition of a community property home.