Sole & Separate Property

What Assets Are Separate Property?

Separate property presents unique questions in a divorce situation. In general, separate property consists of the assets that a spouse acquired prior to marriage, received as an inheritance, received as a gift, or acquired with separate funds The Court must confirm separate property to its owner. However, property can lose its character as separate property in certain situations.

There are many issues that may arise regarding separate property, such as:

• What happens if community funds are used during the marriage to make monthly payments for the separate property of one of the spouses?
• What happens if the value of the separate property is increased due to improvements paid for with community funds?
• What happens if a separate business increases due to the personal services performed by a spouse during the marriage?
• What happens if the separate property is commingled with community funds?
• What happens if the title to the separate property is put in the names of both spouses during the marriage?
• What happens if separate property is damaged by the non-owning spouse?
• What happens if separate property is sold during the marriage?
• What happens if the proceeds from the sale of separate property is used to purchase other items during the marriage?
• What happens if separate funds are deposited into a community account?

It is not enough to simply say an item is separate property. You must explore the above issues, and others, with an experienced attorney.