Final answer:
In community property states, money and property acquired during a marriage are considered the property of both spouses equally. This principle aligns with the view that both partners contribute to the marriage, and thus share assets and debts. This is distinct from practices in other times and places, where property rights varied.
Step-by-step explanation:
In community property states, most money and property acquired during a marriage are legally considered the property of c) Both spouses equally. This concept of community property is based on the idea that both spouses, regardless of the actual income or property owned by each one individually, equally contribute to the marriage and therefore have an equal share in assets accumulated during the marriage. This is in contrast to common law property states, where ownership is typically determined by whose name is on the title or who purchased the property.
Historically, there have been different practices regarding property rights between spouses. For example, in Han China, a wife had certain rights to manage the household budget and own land. Similarly, the dowry remained the wife's property. Conversely, during the American Revolution in the United States, married women had few rights and effectively lost their separate legal identity under the principle of coverture. The husband would manage their wives' property and retain profits from it.
Property rights could vary greatly from one time period and culture to another, but in modern community property states within the United States, the assets and debts acquired during a marriage are shared equally between spouses.