Me and Wife are separating after marriage of 2 years. We have 1 kid together and 2 kids in the relationship.
I have 2 individual bank accounts started before marriage and a Joint bank account with my wife after marriage. Let’s say:
A1 bank for my all the transections and A2 bank for my savings, (Individual accounts).
A3 Joint account between me and wife we opened after marriage, (Joint account).
During first year of marriage, I was depositing $100/month from my pay-check to A1 individual account and rest of the money from my pay-check to A3 Joint account. Moreover, I received tax-return money from IRS of previous year when I was not married, after marriage. That money was also deposited into my individual A1 account. Then, I took lump-sum money out of my A1 and deposited it into my A2 individual savings account.
Is she entitled to any of the money from the A2 account; from my individual savings account? My A2 account also had some savings before marriage.
The A1 and A2 accounts have a mixture of your separate property (funds that exited on the date of marriage and were therefore acquired before the date of marriage) and marital property (the $100 you deposited each month during the marriage).
If you are able to trace the funds with bank statements to show exactly which funds were separate and which were marital and that the $100/paycheck were the only co-mingled funds and you can specifically trace those, then she would only be entitled to one-half of the total money deposited from your paycheck during the marriage.
Anna Ayscue
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest
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