General Housing Information

questions & answers

Question: When a couple parts after 2 yr living together is one intitled to what they paid for and has reciept

Answer: If unmarried: Arizona does not recognize “common law” marriage (A.R.S. 25-111), so there are no formal legal rules for the division of property when an unmarried couple breaks up, regardless of whether or not they lived together. Whatever each party acquired during the relationship remains the property of that party. (Having receipts will help if a third party becomes involved.) If the former couple cannot agree over who should take what, then their options include going to mediation and going to court. (Mediation is less adversarial and tends to be quicker and cheaper.) If married: Arizona is a “community property” state, which means that all property acquired during a marriage is presumed to be owned by each spouse 50/50. However, property acquired by each of the spouses before the marriage is considered to be separate and therefore belongs to the spouse who acquired it. Property acquired during the marriage is presumed to belong to the “community” (both spouses 50/50) unless it was acquired by one of the spouses as a separate gift or through a separate inheritance or through an exchange for some other separate property (A.R.S. 25-211).