Indiana law, for title research

Is Indiana a community property state? No: the equal division presumption and how spouses hold land

Every rule below is quoted from the Indiana Code 2026 or another official source, linked and checked on the date shown. General information, not legal advice.

What does Indiana law say about community property?

Very little. IRS Publication 555 names nine community property states that do not include Indiana, and it says it does not address elections under Alaska, Tennessee and South Dakota law. The phrase does not appear in Titles 29, 31 and 32 of the Indiana Code, on probate, family law and property, and other titles were not all searched. This page rests on the current code. A couple arriving from a community property state should ask an Indiana attorney how these rules apply.

What does an Indiana divorce court divide?

Section 31-15-7-4 reaches the property of the parties, whether owned by either spouse before the marriage, acquired by either spouse in his or her own right after the marriage and before final separation, or acquired by their joint efforts. For this purpose, section 31-9-2-98(b) defines property as all the assets of either party or both parties, including certain pension and retirement rights. Final separation generally means the date the dissolution petition was filed. If a legal separation proceeding was pending, or a provisional order or decree was in effect, it means the date of that earlier petition.

The court may divide land in kind, set it over to one spouse and require a payment, or order a sale and divide the proceeds, and section 31-15-7-4(b)(4) adds certain retirement benefits. The parties may agree otherwise in writing, by a settlement agreement under section 31-15-2-17 or a premarital agreement under section 31-11-3-5. Section 31-15-7-9.1 says a property order may not be revoked or modified except for fraud, asserted within six years.

Is an Indiana divorce 50/50?

That is the starting presumption. Section 31-15-7-5 says the court shall presume that an equal division of the marital property is just and reasonable. A party may rebut it with relevant evidence, including each spouse's contribution, whether or not income producing, property acquired before the marriage or by inheritance or gift, economic circumstances, conduct as to disposition or dissipation of property, and earnings or earning ability. Section 31-15-7-0.2 says the presumption does not apply to actions filed before September 1, 1987, and sections 29-1-2-0.1 and 29-1-3-0.1 limit some probate amendments by date of death, so older decrees and deaths may fall under earlier law.

How do spouses hold Indiana land?

The vesting words matter. A conveyance to two or more persons generally creates an estate in common unless joint tenancy and survivorship are expressed, or that intent manifestly appears from the instrument. Section 32-17-2-1 does not apply that rule to mortgages, conveyances in trust, or conveyances made to husband and wife.

Spouses buying by written contract, or leasing with an option to purchase, hold an estate by the entireties unless the contract creates or was intended to create a tenancy in common. Neither interest is severable during the marriage. If one spouse dies, the survivor is considered to have owned the whole of all rights under the contract from its inception, and a divorce while the contract is in effect leaves equal shares in the contract and equity.

Those contract rules are what the text states. The sections read here do not say what estate a deed to a husband and wife creates, or what divorce does to entirety land held by deed. Both are questions for an Indiana attorney.

Who signs when married owners convey?

It depends on the land. Section 29-1-2-3.1 says a married man may convey his real property in his own name, and that a deed made without his wife's joinder or assent has the same effect as if she had joined. Section 31-11-7-2 gives a married woman the same property rights as an unmarried woman. A joint deed by husband and wife is sufficient to convey any interest it describes in land held as tenants in common, joint tenants or tenants by the entireties. One spouse may also sign alone as attorney in fact under an executed and recorded power of attorney from the other. A transfer on death deed by a tenant by the entirety is inoperable and void unless the other spouse joins.

What does a surviving Indiana spouse take?

Dower and curtesy are abolished. Without a will, the share is one-half of the net estate if a child or the issue of a deceased child survives, three-fourths if only a parent survives, and all of it if neither does. A later spouse who never had children with the decedent, when the decedent left children or their descendants by a previous spouse, takes twenty-five percent of the land's date-of-death value after liens, and the fee vests at once in those children or descendants, and takes the same share of the personal property as other surviving spouses, under section 29-1-2-1(c). Sections 29-1-2-14 and 29-1-2-15 take away the share of a spouse who left the other and was living in adultery at the death, or who abandoned the spouse without just cause.

A spouse may elect against a will within three months after the order admitting it to probate, extended if listed litigation is pending when that period ends, under section 29-1-3-2. The share is one-half of the net personal and real estate, with a smaller share for such a later spouse, and section 29-1-3-1(a) counts only property that would have passed under the laws of descent. Section 29-1-3-6 allows a written waiver before or after marriage after full disclosure and for fair consideration, and under section 29-1-2-13(b) a waiver agreement may be filed like an election. The election goes on file with the court clerk and into the record of wills.

What a title search checks on a married Indiana owner

A title check before buying reads the chain of title: the vesting words on each key deed and any recorded land contract, with images, any recorded power of attorney between spouses, and any dissolution decree, probate record or election in the record of wills it finds. What they mean for title is for an Indiana attorney.

The Indiana marital property rules on this page, with their sources

Sources: IRS Publication 555, Community Property; Indiana Code 2026, IC 31-15-7-4; Indiana Code 2026, IC 31-9-2-46; Indiana Code 2026, IC 31-15-7-5; Indiana Code 2026, IC 32-17-2-1; Indiana Code 2026, IC 32-17-3-1; Indiana Code 2026, IC 32-17-3-2; Indiana Code 2026, IC 32-17-3-4; Indiana Code 2026, IC 29-1-2-11; Indiana Code 2026, IC 29-1-2-1; Indiana Code 2026, IC 29-1-3-1; Indiana Code 2026, IC 29-1-3-2; Indiana Code 2026, IC 29-1-3-3; Indiana Code 2026, IC 32-17-14-11; Indiana Code 2026, IC 31-9-2-98; Indiana Code 2026, IC 31-15-2-17; Indiana Code 2026, IC 31-15-7-9.1; Indiana Code 2026, IC 31-15-7-0.2; Indiana Code 2026, IC 29-1-2-3.1; Indiana Code 2026, IC 31-11-7-2; Indiana Code 2026, IC 29-1-2-14; Indiana Code 2026, IC 29-1-3-6. Each row links the section it summarizes.

Questions people ask

More on how Indiana property law shapes a title search: title research in Indiana.