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Nevada Community Property: Who Owns What When a Spouse Dies
Support GuideNevada14 min read

Nevada Community Property: Who Owns What When a Spouse Dies

Nevada spouses each own half of the community property. NRS 123.250 gives the survivor their half outright, plus the decedent's half if there is no will.

By Settled Editorial

Nevada is a community property state. Property either spouse acquires during the marriage belongs to both in equal halves, and death does not change the survivor's half. NRS 123.250 states it directly: an undivided one-half interest in the community property "is the property of the surviving spouse and his or her sole separate property," while the remaining interest passes by the decedent's will or, with no will, "goes to the surviving spouse." That remaining interest "[i]s the only portion subject to administration."

Those sentences decide most of what a Nevada family needs to know after a death: what a will can reach, why the intestate fractions people remember apply only to separate property, how a $180,000 marital estate fits under a $150,000 set-aside, and what basis an heir takes when the house sells. Every rule below was read at the official Nevada Revised Statutes on August 16, 2026, and each section is linked. For the court steps that follow, start with how Nevada probate works.

Nevada Sorts Property Into Two Kinds

Separate property. NRS 123.130 keeps three things out of the community: everything a spouse owned before the marriage, everything acquired afterward "by gift, bequest, devise, descent or by an award for personal injury damages," and the rents, issues and profits all of it produces. The personal-injury clause is worth noticing, because several community property states split injury awards differently. An inheritance one spouse receives during the marriage stays separate, and so does the interest it earns.

Community property. NRS 123.220 defines it by subtraction: "All property, other than that stated in NRS 123.130, acquired after marriage by either spouse or both spouses, is community property," unless one of four exceptions applies. The first exception is the one families use on purpose: "An agreement in writing between the spouses." The others are a decree of separate maintenance, earnings set aside for support under NRS 123.190, and a Medicaid-driven division of income and resources under NRS 123.259. Wages earned during the marriage are community property, and so is the house, the brokerage account and the truck those wages bought, whatever name sits on the title.

During life, NRS 123.230 lets either spouse manage community property alone, with three limits that matter for planning: neither spouse may devise or bequeath more than one-half of the community property, neither may give community property away without the other's express or implied consent, and both must join in any deed that sells, conveys or encumbers community real property.

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What Each Half Does At Death

What it isWhere it goes when a spouse dies
Community propertyThe survivor keeps their one-half outright under NRS 123.250. The decedent's one-half passes by will, or to the surviving spouse if there is no will. Only this half is subject to probate administration.
Community property with right of survivorshipPasses entirely to the survivor by the title itself, outside probate. NRS 123.250 does not apply to it.
The decedent's separate propertyPasses by will, or under the NRS Chapter 134 intestate fractions.
The survivor's separate propertyStays with the survivor. It was never part of the estate.

The scoping rule that ties the table together is NRS 134.010: survivorship community property vests by its survivorship, all other community property vests as NRS 123.250 provides, and "[t]he provisions of this chapter apply only to the separate property of the decedent."

The intestate fractions are a separate-property rule

The shares people half-remember from NRS 134.040 and NRS 134.050 never touch community property. With one child, the spouse takes one-half of the separate property; with two or more children, one-third. With no children, the spouse shares separate property with surviving parents or siblings, and takes all of it only when none survive. So a married couple whose whole estate is community property leaves the children nothing by intestacy: the survivor keeps one half by ownership and takes the other half under NRS 123.250. Who inherits in Nevada without a will walks the full ladder, and what a Nevada surviving spouse can claim covers the set-apart property and family allowance that ride on top.

Community Property With Right Of Survivorship

Nevada lets a couple bolt a survivorship right onto community title, and the formality is strict. NRS 111.064 requires the instrument to "expressly declare[] that the married couple take the property as community property with a right of survivorship." A deed that just says "as community property" creates no survivorship, and the couple's halves pass under NRS 123.250 instead.

Two features of the survivorship form deserve care:

  • It is fragile. Under NRS 111.064 the right "is extinguished whenever either spouse, during the marriage, transfers the spouse's interest." A refinance or a transfer into one spouse's trust can quietly undo it.
  • It skips probate, not every claim. Property passing by survivorship is a nonprobate transfer. The set-aside court may count it under NRS 146.070, and Nevada Medicaid recovery reaches it, both covered below.

Ways to keep assets out of Nevada probate compares this title form with the deed upon death, beneficiary designations and a revocable trust.

Why Community Property Shrinks A Nevada Probate

Only the decedent's half of ordinary community property is "subject to administration" under NRS 123.250, so the measuring stick for Nevada's small-estate shortcuts starts at half of the marital assets.

The set-aside. NRS 146.070 lets the District Court set aside an estate worth $150,000 or less without administration, on a petition filed no sooner than 30 days after the death. When a surviving spouse or minor children survive, the set-aside is mandatory: the court "must set aside the estate for the benefit of the surviving spouse or the minor child or minor children," and it does so "without the payment of creditors except as the court finds necessary to prevent a manifest injustice." One counterweight sits in the same section: the court may reduce the spousal set-aside to the extent nonprobate transfers to the spouse, survivorship community property included, push the combined value past $150,000. Value means fair market value net of liens.

The affidavit. NRS 146.080 lets a successor collect property by affidavit 40 days after death when the decedent left no Nevada real property or any interest in or lien on it. The cap is $150,000 for a surviving spouse and $25,000 for anyone else, and registered motor vehicles are excluded from the count because the DMV has its own transfer procedure.

Both dollar figures are new. Senate Bill 404 of the 2025 session raised them from $100,000 effective October 1, 2025, so most older articles and forms print stale numbers. Read the current set-aside and affidavit procedures before choosing a path.

Property You Brought From Another State

Nevada has no quasi-community property statute. The chapters on marital property, premarital agreements, divorce, descent and small estates contain no recharacterization rule, at death or otherwise. That is a real difference from California, Washington and Arizona, and it cuts against the surviving spouse: a couple who spent their working years in Ohio and retired to Las Vegas owns what Ohio law says they own, and the half-and-half rule of NRS 123.250 reaches only what became community property after the move, mainly wages and what those wages bought.

The fix is contractual. NRS 123.070 lets spouses contract with each other about property, and NRS 123.220 honors "[a]n agreement in writing between the spouses" as an exception to the default character. A written agreement can convert imported separate property into Nevada community property, which changes both the death result and the tax basis result below. NRS 123.080 adds that spouses cannot contract away other legal relations, but may alter their property relations. Agreements signed before the wedding follow the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act in NRS Chapter 123A. Have a Nevada attorney draft or review any of these: the same instrument that fixes the death result also moves property within reach of each spouse's creditors.

What The Community Property Rules Do Not Do

  • They do not stop Medicaid estate recovery. NRS 422.29302 directs recovery of Medicaid benefits from the recipient's "undivided estate," and NRS 422.054 defines that term to include assets "conveyed to a survivor, heir or assign ... through or as the result of any joint tenancy, tenancy in common, survivorship, life estate, living trust, annuity, declaration of homestead or other arrangement." Survivorship community property is inside that list. Recovery against a surviving spouse waits until after that spouse's death, but waiting is not forgiveness.
  • They do not protect a slayer. NRS 123.250 yields to Chapter 41B, Nevada's slayer statute, so a spouse who feloniously and intentionally kills the other forfeits the survivorship benefits.
  • They do not silence community creditors. The decedent's half passes through administration, where community debts are paid, and NRS 123.230's lifetime rules already let one spouse's management bind community assets. The Nevada surviving spouse guide covers the set-apart property and allowance that run ahead of general creditors.
  • They do not decide the second death. Everything the survivor ends up owning needs its own plan: a will, beneficiary designations, or a trust.

Registered Domestic Partners

Nevada extends the whole structure to registered domestic partners. NRS 122A.200 grants partners "the same rights, protections and benefits" as spouses, gives a surviving partner the rights of a widow or widower, and for community property purposes deems any reference to the date of a marriage to refer to the date of registration. IRS Publication 555 applies federal community-income reporting to registered domestic partners domiciled in Nevada, California and Washington.

The Basis Answer That Pays For The Paperwork

Community property carries a federal income-tax advantage at death. 26 U.S.C. 1014(b)(6) treats the surviving spouse's one-half of community property as acquired from the decedent, so long as at least one half of the whole community interest was includible in the decedent's gross estate. Where that holds, both halves of a community asset step up to date-of-death value, not just the decedent's half. A Las Vegas rental bought for $200,000 and worth $650,000 at the first death gives the survivor a $650,000 basis on the whole property. Separate property, and property a couple never converted after moving in from a common-law state, steps up on the decedent's share only. Your basis in inherited Nevada property works the arithmetic, and a CPA should confirm treatment before any sale.

Sorting Your Own Assets

Work asset by asset, in this order:

  1. When was it acquired? Before the marriage or registration, it starts separate under NRS 123.130. After, NRS 123.220 starts it community.
  2. How was it acquired? Gift, bequest, devise, descent and personal-injury awards stay separate whenever they arrived. Wages and wage-bought assets do not.
  3. Where did the couple live at the time? Property acquired while domiciled in a common-law state keeps that character in Nevada. No statute recharacterizes it.
  4. What does the title say? An express "community property with right of survivorship" declaration under NRS 111.064 moves the asset outside probate entirely.
  5. Did the couple sign anything? A written agreement under NRS 123.220, or a premarital agreement under Chapter 123A, can change every answer above.

Gather the deed, account statements and any agreements before deciding. Where wages and an inheritance funded one account, or the couple moved between states, hand the file to a Nevada probate attorney.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Nevada a community property state?

Yes. IRS Publication 555 lists Nevada among the nine community property states, alongside Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. The Nevada definition sits at NRS 123.220: all property acquired after marriage by either spouse or both is community property, other than separate property under NRS 123.130 and four listed exceptions, the first of which is a written agreement between the spouses.

Who owns community property when a spouse dies in Nevada?

NRS 123.250 answers in two sentences. An undivided one-half interest in the community property is the property of the surviving spouse and his or her sole separate property. The remaining interest is subject to the testamentary disposition of the decedent or, in the absence of such a testamentary disposition, goes to the surviving spouse, and it is the only portion subject to administration under title 12 of NRS.

Does the surviving spouse inherit everything without a will in Nevada?

All of the community property, yes: the survivor keeps their own half under NRS 123.250 and takes the decedent's half when there is no will. Separate property follows different fractions. Under NRS 134.040 the spouse takes one-half of the separate property alongside one child and only one-third alongside two or more children, and NRS 134.050 sets the shares when parents or siblings survive instead.

What is community property with right of survivorship in Nevada?

A title form under NRS 111.064. The deed or account must expressly declare that the married couple takes the property as community property with a right of survivorship. Property held that way passes to the survivor outside probate, and NRS 123.250 does not apply to it. The survivorship right is extinguished whenever either spouse, during the marriage, transfers that spouse's interest.

Does Nevada have quasi-community property?

No. The chapters governing marital property, divorce, descent and small estates contain no quasi-community property statute, unlike California, Arizona and Washington. Property a couple acquired while living in a common-law state keeps its character when they move to Nevada. A couple who wants the community result for imported property can sign a written agreement under NRS 123.220, which lets spouses change the character of property by agreement.

Do Nevada domestic partners get community property rights?

Yes. NRS 122A.200 gives registered domestic partners the same rights, protections and benefits as spouses, and for community property purposes any reference to the date of a marriage is deemed to refer to the date the partnership was registered. IRS Publication 555 applies the federal community-income rules to registered domestic partners domiciled in Nevada as well.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of August 16, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Nevada can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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