Marital Residence.jpgA spouse contributing separate property (most commonly pre-marital, gifted, or inherited funds) to the purchase of the marital residence does not make a gift of (half of) that payment to the other spouse, even if the residence is held by the parties jointly.

So was the holding of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in its

house upside down.jpgIt should have been a dead giveaway.  Court of Appeals Judge Victoria Graffeo warned us that in Fields v Fields (PDF), New York’s highest court was about to apply public policy principles to “unique facts.”  The result: a decision likely to keep Equitable Distribution litigators busy for years to come.

8 years into the Fields’