I live in New Mexico.
Here's the scenario. A couple gets married. The husband has a separate bank account with $100000 before the marriage, and maintains this as a separate account during the marriage. The couple opens a joint bank account at the time of their marriage, into which all paychecks go and all bills are paid. The husband never makes any deposits into his separate bank account during the marriage. Occasionally during the marriage, the husband takes money out of his separate account and puts it into the joint account for community use. This money is spent for community purposes.
Someone told me that since the husband took money out of his separate bank account for community use, if the couple were to divorce then the wife's lawyer could go after half of the husband's separate bank account.
I say this is incorrect, and that taking money out of a separate account does not change the character of the remaining funds in that account from separate to community property.
What do you think?
Here's the scenario. A couple gets married. The husband has a separate bank account with $100000 before the marriage, and maintains this as a separate account during the marriage. The couple opens a joint bank account at the time of their marriage, into which all paychecks go and all bills are paid. The husband never makes any deposits into his separate bank account during the marriage. Occasionally during the marriage, the husband takes money out of his separate account and puts it into the joint account for community use. This money is spent for community purposes.
Someone told me that since the husband took money out of his separate bank account for community use, if the couple were to divorce then the wife's lawyer could go after half of the husband's separate bank account.
I say this is incorrect, and that taking money out of a separate account does not change the character of the remaining funds in that account from separate to community property.
What do you think?
