Ohio Divorce Law...

Ohio Law - Can Separate Property Become Marital Property Without a Gift?

If separate property becomes mingled with marital property in such a way that it becomes impossible to trace, the separate property can become marital property.

This happens most often with payments for houses over long marriages, or with bank accounts that may be funded in part by separate funds but are used as joint accounts.

Factors the court will consider include:

• The intent of the parties.
• The source of the funds used to acquire the property.
• The circumstances at the time the property was acquired.
• The dates of the marriage, acquisition of property, and breakup of the marriage.
• The purpose of the relevant transaction.
• The value of the property and its significance to the parties.

Cases:

Landry (1995) 663 NE2d 1026 (The couple had a bank savings account with about $41,000. The account had been funded initially with separate cash, from the husband's Schwab stock portfolio account. But over the seven years of the marriage, the couple treated the account as a joint account. The wife deposited money she earned into the account during a period when the husband was unemployed, and they deposited their joint tax refunds into the account. The court concluded that the separate fund had become a marital fund over the course of the marriage.)

Peck (1994) 96 Ohio App 3d 731, 645 NE2d 1300 (The husband had invested about $10,000 of his separate property in the marital home. The marriage lasted 21 years. At the time of the divorce, the husband could not find any documentation of the amount he had invested or proof that it was separate property. The lower court concluded that, because the separate asset was not traceable, the entire home was marital property, and that the separate property investment had commingled with the marital home. The wife had received approximately $7,000 from an inheritance and deposited it into the parties' joint bank account. The court made the same conclusion, that the cash also could not be traced and had become marital property.)

Frost (1992) 618 NE2d 198 (In this case, the husband used about $20,000 of his separate cash to make a down-payment on the couple's home. They lived in the home during their 17-year marriage. The court found that the $20,000 investment had become marital property over the 17 years. The home was worth $300,000 to $350,000 by the trial date.

Email this page on to a friend.

Disclaimer: We are not giving legal advice. No warranties. We disclaim all legal liability. More...

Click here to go to top Ohio divorce law page.

Click here for the Ohio divorce legal table of contents.