This is not correct AFAIK. Prenups protect what you decide they protect, assuming they are created in a legally binding manner. In California and many states,

This is not correct AFAIK. Prenups protect what you decide they protect, assuming they are created in a legally binding manner. In California and many states, inheritance and gifts are always sole property of the recipient and not considered community property. My ex was gifted property from a relative during the marriage(so they could illegally claim state benefits, but that's another story), and it was not even on the table during the divorce. In CA, if you provided the down payment on the mortgage with non-community money and then used community money to pay th mortgage, you could ask for the non-community down payment back and get 50% of the community interest in the home after that.