One of the first steps during the property division process of a divorce is to identify marital assets and separate property. Spouses typically don’t have to divide resources that they owned before marriage, received as gifts or inherited.
Spouses claiming assets as separate property generally need to provide financial documentation affirming that those resources are not marital. Commingling, or the act of combining marital property with separate property, can lead to property division disputes.
What are some of the most common forms of commingling? Let’s take a look at three.
1. Depositing funds into shared accounts
A financial gift or inheritance generally needs to remain separate from marital accounts for the recipient to be able to claim the full amount as their own in divorce. If they deposit the assets into a joint or shared account, the other spouse could assert that commingling made those assets marital property.
2. Sharing ownership
A spouse who receives valuable gifts or acquires significant assets prior to marriage might choose to add the other spouse to the ownership paperwork. Doing so is an act of commingling that can give the other spouse a claim to that property during the divorce.
3. Maintaining assets with marital income
Resources ranging from real estate and businesses to vehicles may require regular maintenance. If spouses use marital income to maintain or improve separate property, that can give rise to claims of commingling. So can accepting unpaid labor from a spouse for the purposes of maintaining or improving separate property.
Those hoping to protect their separate property during a divorce are wise to get experienced legal guidance. Identifying possible signs of commingling early can help people more effectively strategize for upcoming property division negotiations.