Washington · RCW 26.16Washington community property: why both spouses sign to buy, sell or mortgage a home

Washington is a community property state, and RCW 26.16.030 decides who signs a real estate deal. Property acquired after marriage – or after registering a state registered domestic partnership – by either or both is community property unless it's separate property. Either spouse or domestic partner can usually manage community property alone, with these exceptions that matter at closing: neither may sell, convey or encumber community real property without the other joining in the deed or other instrument, and that deed or instrument must be acknowledged by both; and neither may purchase or contract to purchase community real property without the other joining in the purchase or in signing the purchase contract. Separate property is different: property owned before the marriage or registration, and property acquired afterward by gift, bequest, devise, descent or inheritance – with its rents and profits – can be managed, sold, conveyed or encumbered without the spouse or partner joining, as if unmarried (RCW 26.16.010, 26.16.020). A narrower rule applies to a business both spouses manage, where assets including real estate need the other's consent (RCW 26.16.030(6)). In practice, a TC should know whether each buyer and seller is married or in a registered domestic partnership before the contract is signed – the rule reaches the purchase contract itself, not only the deed.