Posted by:
Brother Of Jerry
(
)
Date: September 17, 2020 01:03PM
Ah, you beat me to it.
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_property_in_the_United_StatesFrom the article:
The states of the United States that recognize community property are primarily in the Western United States; it was inherited from Mexico's ganancial community system,[10] which itself was inherited from Spanish law (a Roman-derived civil law system) and ultimately from the Visigothic Code.[11] While under Spanish rule, Louisiana adopted the ganancial community system of acquests and gains, which replaced the traditional French community of movables and acquests in its civil law system.[12]
Puerto Rico and Guam are also community property territories, originating in Spanish law. I assume Washington state had some early settlements originating from Spain, judging by some of the local names (San Juan Islands, Strait of Juan de Fuca).
I'm not sure why Oregon got left out, nor why Idaho got included as a community property state. And Wisconsin is an outlier. Their closest link to Spain, as far as I know, is Taco Bell.
Four of the six states that border Utah (I'm including New Mexico, although it is only a single point of contact) are community property states. Pretty amazing since there are only 9 community property states in the whole country.