§4.13 Personal Injury Damages

Personal injury damages that satisfy a judgment or settle a claim are community property if received for a spouse's personal injuries suffered during the marriage. [FC §780.]

If the cause of action, however, arose

• after the entry of a judgment of dissolution of a marriage or legal separation of the parties, or
• while either spouse, if he or she is the injured person, is living separate from the other spouse,

the damages are separate property. [FC §781.]

A spouse's cause of action for legal malpractice only arises when the spouse suffers a loss or injury cognizable as damages. If the actual loss occurs after separation, the settlement proceeds from the cause of action are the spouse's separate property. [Marriage of Klug (2005) 130 CA4th 1389, 1398–1401.]