Marr. of Valli

*1399Opinion

KENNARD, J.*

During a marriage the husband used community property funds to purchase an insurance policy on his life, naming his wife as the policy’s only owner and beneficiary. Upon dissolution of the marriage, is the life insurance policy community property or the wife’s separate property? We conclude that, unless the statutory transmutation requirements have been met, the life insurance policy is community property. Because the Court of Appeal reached a different conclusion, we reverse that court’s judgment.

I

After a 20-year marriage, Frankie Valli (husband) and Randy Valli (wife)…