Marital Property Rights in Nevada: Community and Separate Property

Part of my Nevada Family Law Overview.

By Ronald W. Brilliant, Attorney at Law · Licensed in Idaho, Nevada & California · Last reviewed: September 2026 against Nevada Revised Statutes Title 11, chapters 121 through 130 (current through the 2025 legislative session and 2026 special session revisions)

In This TopicNevada Family LawTopic 3 of 15: Marital Property Rights

Nevada law sorts a married couple’s property into community property and separate property (NRS 123.130; NRS 123.220). Chapter 123 of NRS, titled “Rights of Married Couples,” decides which property belongs to both spouses together and which belongs to one spouse alone. Those rules apply unless an enforceable premarital agreement under chapter 123A of NRS, or a marriage contract or settlement, contains different terms (NRS 123.010(1)).

This page covers property rights during a marriage: what counts as community property and separate property, who may manage and sell it, how spouses can make agreements about it, and each spouse’s duties of support and liability for debts. The same rules generally apply to registered domestic partners, whose “date of marriage” is the date the partnership was registered (NRS 122A.200(1)(a), (j)); see Nevada Domestic Partnerships.

How Married Couples May Hold Property

A married couple may hold real or personal property as joint tenants, as tenants in common, or as community property (NRS 123.030). No estate of “curtesy” or “dower” is allowed to a spouse upon the death of the other spouse (NRS 123.020).

Separate Property

A spouse’s separate property is (NRS 123.130):

• All property the spouse owned before the marriage;
• Property the spouse acquired afterward by gift, bequest, devise (a gift under a will), descent (inheritance) or an award for personal injury damages; and
• The rents, issues and profits of that property.

Either spouse may, without the other spouse’s consent, convey, charge, encumber or otherwise dispose of his or her separate property (NRS 123.170). Except as mentioned in NRS 123.070, neither spouse has any interest in the property of the other spouse (NRS 123.060).

If one spouse gives the other written authority to use the first spouse’s earnings as his or her own, those earnings, with their issues and profits, are treated as a gift and become the receiving spouse’s separate property (NRS 123.190).

Recording an Inventory of Separate Property

A married person may prepare, sign and acknowledge a full inventory of his or her separate property, other than money, and record it with the county recorder. A Nevada resident may record it in the county of residence, and it must also be recorded in any other county where listed real property is located (NRS 123.140(1)). A nonresident’s inventory is recorded in each county where any of the property is located or used (NRS 123.140(2)). Supplemental inventories may be recorded later for separate property acquired afterward (NRS 123.140(3)).

A recorded inventory is notice of the person’s title to the listed separate property (NRS 123.150). Failing to record an inventory, or leaving property off it, is prima facie evidence that the property is not the person’s separate property, but only as between that person and good-faith purchasers for value from the other spouse (NRS 123.160(1)–(2)). Other evidence may still be used to show whether property is separate or community (NRS 123.160(3)).

Community Property

Community property is all property, other than separate property described in NRS 123.130, acquired after marriage by either spouse or both spouses (NRS 123.220). Property acquired after marriage is not community property if one of these provides otherwise (NRS 123.220(1)–(4)):

• A written agreement between the spouses;
• A decree of separate maintenance issued by a court of competent jurisdiction (see Annulment and Separate Maintenance);
• NRS 123.190 (earnings given to the other spouse by written authority, described above); or
• A decree issued or written agreement made under NRS 123.259 (described below).

During the marriage, each spouse’s interest in community property is a present, existing and equal interest, subject to the management rules in NRS 123.230 (NRS 123.225(1)). This applies to all community property, whenever acquired (NRS 123.225(2)).

Children’s Property and Earnings

Property a child acquires by gift, bequest, devise or descent, with its rents, issues and profits, belongs to the child, and neither parent has any interest in it (NRS 123.180(1)). A minor child’s earnings, however, are the community property of the parents unless relinquished to the child. A relinquishment may be shown by a written instrument, proof of a specific oral gift, or proof of a course of conduct (NRS 123.180(2)).

When a married couple is living separate and apart, their minor children’s unrelinquished earnings are the separate property of the spouse who has custody or, if no custody award has been made, of the spouse the children are living with (NRS 123.180(3)).

Damage Awards When Spouses Sue Together

When spouses sue jointly, the damages are divided by type (NRS 123.121):

Type of damages	Goes to	NRS
Personal injuries and pain and suffering	The injured spouse, as separate property	123.121(1)(a)
Loss of comfort and society	The spouse who suffers that loss	123.121(1)(b)
Loss of services and hospital and medical expenses	Both spouses, as community property	123.121(1)(c)
Injury to separate property	The spouse who owns that property	123.121(2)
Injury to community property	Both spouses, as community property	123.121(2)

Property Placed in a Trust

A trust instrument may provide that community or separate property transferred into an irrevocable trust of which both spouses are distribution beneficiaries keeps its community or separate character during the marriage. Property distributed or withdrawn from such a trust, including its income, appreciation and proceeds, also keeps that character (NRS 123.125(1)). A spouse or other party claiming that property transferred into a trust changed from community to separate property, or from separate to community property, must prove that change (called transmutation) by clear and convincing evidence (NRS 123.125(2)).

Managing and Controlling Community Property

Either spouse, acting alone, may manage and control community property with the same power of disposition he or she has over separate property. A spouse may also give the other, by written power of attorney, complete power to sell, convey or encumber community property (NRS 123.230). This one-spouse power has important limits (NRS 123.230(1)–(6)):

Transaction	What the law requires	NRS
Leaving community property by will	Neither spouse may devise or bequeath more than one-half of the community property	123.230(1)
Giving away community property	Requires the other spouse’s express or implied consent	123.230(2)
Selling, conveying or encumbering community real property	Both spouses must join in signing the deed or other instrument, and both must acknowledge it	123.230(3)
Buying or contracting to buy community real property	Both spouses must join in the purchase or in signing the purchase contract	123.230(4)
Selling community household goods, furnishings or appliances, or creating a security interest in them (other than a purchase-money security interest)	Both spouses must join in signing the security agreement or contract of sale, if any	123.230(5)
Acquiring, buying, selling, conveying or encumbering the assets (including real property and goodwill) of a business both spouses help manage	Requires the other spouse’s consent	123.230(6)
Same business transactions when only one spouse participates in management	That spouse may act without the other’s consent in the ordinary course of business	123.230(6)

Retirement and Benefit Plan Payments

When a payment or refund is made to an employee, former employee, beneficiary or estate under a written retirement, death or other employee benefit or savings plan, the payment fully discharges the employer and any trustee or insurance company making it from adverse claims (NRS 123.240). This protection does not apply if, before payment, the payer received written notice at the required office that another person claims the payment. The section does not affect claims to the payment among persons other than the employee and the paying trustee or insurance company (NRS 123.240).

Agreements Between Spouses

Either spouse may enter into any contract, engagement or transaction with the other spouse, or with anyone else, involving property that he or she could enter into if unmarried (NRS 123.070). Contracts between spouses are subject to the general rules that govern people in relationships of confidence and trust toward each other (NRS 123.070).

There are limits. A married couple cannot, by contract with each other, change their legal relations except as to property (NRS 123.080(1)). They may, however, agree to an immediate separation and provide for the support of either spouse and their children during the separation, and their mutual consent is enough consideration for that agreement (NRS 123.080(1)–(2)).

If a divorce is pending or immediately contemplated, a separation agreement stays valid even if it says it is made to remove its subject from litigation and takes effect only if a divorce is granted (NRS 123.080(3)). If the agreement is introduced as an exhibit in a divorce action and the court ratifies, adopts or approves it by reference in the decree, the decree has the same effect as if the agreement were copied into it or attached (NRS 123.080(4)).

Marriage Contracts or Settlements

All marriage contracts or settlements must be in writing and executed and acknowledged or proved in the same way as a conveyance of land (NRS 123.270). Once acknowledged or proved, the contract must be recorded in every county where affected real property is located (NRS 123.280). Recording gives everyone notice of its contents as to property in that county (NRS 123.290). Until it is recorded in the county where the real property is located, the contract is not valid as to that real property except between the parties (NRS 123.300). A minor who is capable of contracting marriage may make a valid marriage contract or settlement (NRS 123.310).

Agreements made before the wedding are governed by chapter 123A of NRS; a premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties, and becomes effective upon marriage (NRS 123A.040; NRS 123A.060). See Premarital Agreements in Nevada.

Dividing Income and Resources When One Spouse Needs Long-Term Care

NRS 123.259 creates a special procedure when one spouse is an institutionalized spouse and the other is a community spouse, as those terms are defined in federal law, 42 U.S.C. § 1396r-5(h) (NRS 123.259(9)). On a proper petition by a spouse or a spouse’s guardian, a court may enter a decree dividing the couple’s income and resources (NRS 123.259(1)). The court may not do so if the division is contrary to an enforceable premarital agreement (NRS 123.259(2)).

The court may divide the income and resources equally, or by protecting income for the community spouse under a federal maintenance allowance and permitting a transfer of resources to the community spouse up to a federal limit (NRS 123.259(3)). If the community spouse needs more income, the court may order support against the institutionalized spouse on finding exceptional circumstances resulting in significant financial duress and stating its reasons in writing (NRS 123.259(4)). The court may also substitute a larger amount of resources if the transfer would not generate enough income (NRS 123.259(5)). A petition for that additional relief, and any resulting order, must be served on the Administrator of the Division of Social Services when an application for medical assistance is made for the institutionalized spouse (NRS 123.259(6)).

Spouses may also sign a written agreement dividing their community income, assets and obligations into equal shares of separate property. That agreement is effective only if one spouse is institutionalized and the other is a community spouse, or if the division would let one spouse qualify for services under NRS 422.3967 or NRS 427A.250 to 427A.280 (NRS 123.259(7)). A decree or agreement under this section may not be binding on the Medicaid Division of the Nevada Health Authority (NRS 123.259(8)).

Support and Debts Between Spouses

• Debts from before the marriage. Neither a spouse’s separate property nor that spouse’s share of the community property is liable for the other spouse’s debts contracted before the marriage (NRS 123.050).
• Duty of support. A spouse must support the other spouse out of his or her separate property when the other spouse has no separate property, they have no community property, and the other spouse, from infirmity, cannot support himself or herself (NRS 123.110).
• Necessaries for a neglected spouse. If a spouse neglects to provide adequate support for the other spouse, any other person may in good faith supply the neglected spouse with necessary articles and recover their reasonable value from the neglecting spouse. The neglecting spouse’s separate property is liable if the community property is not enough to pay that debt (NRS 123.090).
• Abandonment. A spouse who has been abandoned is not liable to support the abandoning spouse until that spouse offers to return, unless the abandoned spouse’s misconduct justified the abandonment (NRS 123.100).

When the Marriage Ends

At death. When either spouse dies, an undivided one-half interest in the community property belongs to the surviving spouse as his or her sole separate property (NRS 123.250(1)(a)). The other half is subject to the deceased spouse’s will or, if the will does not dispose of it, goes to the surviving spouse. Only that half is subject to administration under the probate title, title 12 of NRS (NRS 123.250(1)(b)). These rules do not apply to community property with right of survivorship, or to the extent they are inconsistent with chapter 41B of NRS (NRS 123.250(2)). See Dying Without a Will in Nevada and Family Protections in Nevada Probate.

At divorce. In granting a divorce, the court must, to the extent practicable, make an equal disposition of the community property, unless it finds a compelling reason for an unequal disposition and states its reasons in writing (NRS 125.150(1)(b)). See Property and Debt Division in a Nevada Divorce.

How I Can Help

I help married clients understand whether particular property is community or separate, what both spouses must sign for real estate and other major transactions, and how to put agreements between spouses in proper written and recorded form. I also help spouses planning for long-term care consider the court and agreement options under NRS 123.259. Request a consultation to discuss your situation.

This page provides general information about Nevada family law, based on the Nevada Revised Statutes as currently revised, and is not legal advice. Court rules, regulations (including the child support guidelines), and case law also affect family law matters. Every family is different; consult an attorney about your situation. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.