republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-1716.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Estate disposition."
description: "(1) Under existing law, upon the death of a person who is married or in a registered domestic partnership, half of the community property and quasi-community property belongs to the surviving spouse, unless the spouses have agreed in writing to divide the property in another manner. Existing law requires, with specified exceptions, that upon the death of a married person, the surviving spouse is personally liable for the debts of the deceased spouse. Under existing law, those debts are chargeable against the fair market value, as specified, of property including community property, quasi-community property, and separate property that passes to the surviving spouse when the deceased spouse dies intestate and the property passes \"without administration.\""
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 1716"
citation: "California AB 1716 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Estate disposition."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Maienschein"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 18
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2022-01-27"
last_action: "2022-06-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/862f55a6-524d-455d-92e7-23e8ab075e65"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1716"
source_hash: "e1842783c834ed59d83f11b6d6e99f6b314b26d3a5563629963850f6ecba8228"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1716 (20212022) — Estate disposition.

(1) Under existing law, upon the death of a person who is married or in a registered domestic partnership, half of the community property and quasi-community property belongs to the surviving spouse, unless the spouses have agreed in writing to divide the property in another manner. Existing law requires, with specified exceptions, that upon the death of a married person, the surviving spouse is personally liable for the debts of the deceased spouse. Under existing law, those debts are chargeable against the fair market value, as specified, of property including community property, quasi-community property, and separate property that passes to the surviving spouse when the deceased spouse dies intestate and the property passes "without administration."

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/27/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1716&version=20210AB171699INT)
2. **05/16/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1716&version=20210AB171698AMD)
3. **06/21/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1716&version=20210AB171696CHP)
4. **AB1716** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1716)
5. **06/14/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1716&version=20210AB171697ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1716 Maienschein Consent Calendar Second Day — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar AB1716 — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1716 Maienschein Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **75–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Maienschein — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2022-01-27** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2022-01-28** From printer. May be heard in committee February 27.
- **2022-02-03** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-15** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (March 15). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-16** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-03-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 3916.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-03-22** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2022-05-04** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-16** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-01** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (May 31). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-02** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-06-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 4130.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-06-09** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after June 11 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2022-06-13** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 0.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-15** Enrolled measure version corrected.
- **2022-06-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2022-06-21** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-06-21** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 29, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/862f55a6-524d-455d-92e7-23e8ab075e65`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).