Non-marital and Marital assets and co-mingling

[StanleyCup]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

To follow up on another thread, let me see if I understand the law here. Let's say person A has a checking account with a balance of $100,000 at the time he marries Person B. Sometime after marriage, person A does the following:

1. deposits marital funds into the account
2. writes a check out of the account to maintain a marital asset (i.e. make a car payment on a car purchased after the marriage)

Maybe just one of the above actions wouldn't make the entire account marital property. However, if marital proceeds are added to the bank account or if proceeds from the account are paid out for regular living expenses, isn't it more likely that the non-marital value will diminish since it is impossible to determine which proceeds came out first - the marital proceeds or the non-marital proceeds. In effect, could the entire account be considered co-mingled and become a marital asset?

As a follow-up to this, would it not be wise to put this account in a trust prior to the marriage, if for no other reason than to prevent the accidental co-mingling of its funds?

 

[Zigner]

Please keep it all in one thread:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/divorce-separation-annulment-36/premarital-assets-debt-question-432191.html

 

[StanleyCup]

Please keep it all in one thread:

I first posted in that thread. I was instructed to start a new thread rather than posting the follow-up so that is what I did. So now, I am not sure which is the correct procedure for posting a related follow-up question. Maybe a moderator can take whatever action is appropriate (either delete this thread or delete my follow-up in the other thread).

 

[mistoffolees]

You are correct.

Basically, the original poster should keep everything in one thread. If someone else wants to ask a question, they start a new thread. When you originally asked your question in someone else's thread, it is considered hijacking, which is why you were asked to start a new thread.

To answer your question:

It is best to keep separate accounts separate and never mingle them. If they are mingled, you can hire a forensic accountant to determine how much is separate, but there's a cost to that - and you may lose some of the separate value.

NEVER put marital funds into a separate account. If necessary, open an account to pay bills and when you need to transfer money from the separate account, do so. But do not put marital funds into the separate account.