Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: community-property and common-law states do not just use different percentages for a will-less estate — they divide different pools of property by different machinery. In the nine community-property states, the surviving spouse already owns half of everything earned during the marriage; that half never enters the estate. In common-law states, ownership follows title, and everything titled to the decedent is on the table. Every generic “spouse gets $150,000 plus half” article is describing one formula — the Uniform Probate Code’s — that fewer than half the states use.
What each system actually divides
Community property: the estate consists of the decedent’s half of the community plus ALL their separate property. Several community-property states pass the decedent’s community half to the spouse outright — making separate property (the pre-marriage house, the kept-apart inheritance) the only real battleground, which is why characterization decides these cases. The states differ in sharp, verified ways this site tracks individually: Idaho makes separate-property income community by default, Washington extends the system to registered domestic partners, Arizona cuts it off at a dissolution petition, and Nevada’s default is expressly defeasible.
Common-law/UPC: the spouse’s share is a formula — and the formula has a blended-family clause (UPC §2-102(4)) that reduces the spousal share when the decedent leaves children who are not the survivor’s. That clause is the machinery behind the blended-family outcomes, and it is the part consumer articles silently drop. The tax silver lining unique to community property — the double basis step-up — survives regardless of who inherits.
Which system you’re in decides what’s even on the table.
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