Cal. FAM § 782
This is the official text of Cal. FAM § 782, part of California’s Family Code — governs marriage, divorce, child custody and support, domestic violence protections, and adoption. This particular section falls under Division 4, “Rights and Obligations During Marriage.”
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
Official statutory text
(a) Where an injury to a married person is caused in whole or in part by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of the person’s spouse, the community property may not be used to discharge the liability of the tortfeasor spouse to the injured spouse or the liability to make contribution to a joint tortfeasor until the separate property of the tortfeasor spouse, not exempt from enforcement of a money judgment, is exhausted.
(b) This section does not prevent the use of community property to discharge a liability referred to in subdivision (a) if the injured spouse gives written consent thereto after the occurrence of the injury.
(c) This section does not affect the right to indemnity provided by an insurance or other contract to discharge the tortfeasor spouse’s liability, whether or not the consideration given for the contract consisted of community property.
(b) This section does not prevent the use of community property to discharge a liability referred to in subdivision (a) if the injured spouse gives written consent thereto after the occurrence of the injury.
(c) This section does not affect the right to indemnity provided by an insurance or other contract to discharge the tortfeasor spouse’s liability, whether or not the consideration given for the contract consisted of community property.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Dealing with a family matter in California?
See all California Family lawyers
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.