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NONLINKING FACTORS OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY Regulations PROPERTY 42-203 (Cont.)

42-203 BASIC DEFINITIONS (Continued)

42-203

.41 Separate Property Derived From Income

If the spouses are living separate and apart from each other, the income of each spouse is the separate income of that spouse in the month of receipt and separate property if retained past the month of receipt.

.42 Marital Separation

For the purposes of this section, the spouses have separated if they have obtained an interlocutory or final judgment of dissolution, if they are legally separated or if they are informally separated. (They are living separate and apart from each other and they consider their marital relationship to have ended.)

HANDBOOK BEGINS HERE

.43 For questions concerning joint ownership of personal property, including vehicles, see Food Stamp regulations at Manual of Policies and Procedures Section 63-501.2.

HANDBOOK ENDS HERE

.5 Community Property -- General

Community property, real or personal, is property acquired by the husband or wife during marriage (unless acquired as separate property). It includes property purchased with community funds, which include earnings of the spouses while married and living together, income derived from community property, and funds received from the sale of community property. Community property generally includes property purchased on the personal credit of either spouse. If property is purchased with funds which cannot be identified as separate property, such property shall be presumed to be community property. However, this presumption can be rebutted, for the entire property or a portion thereof.

NOTE: Due to the complexity of community property laws, the appropriate County Legal Officer should be consulted if problems arise in determining whether property is community or separate.

CALIFORNIA-DSS-MANUAL-EAS MANUAL LETTER NO. EAS-98-03 Effective 7/1/98

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