In California, we follow Spanish, not British law, so all assets acquired by reason of labor of either spouse belong to both spouses.

This doesn't include assets acquired by some other means, e.g. inheritance, or before marriage. So when people come together later in life and have preexisting assets, it's theirs.

Furthermore, there's a sense of distrust among these types because they've been through some traumatic shit usually, i.e. divorce, so they are paranoid about their stuff. They will never find love as a result.