Property gifted to both parties by wife's father and held jointly as and commingled with marital property should not be distributed equally to the parties because the wife's father had given the properties to provide for his daughter
How later courts described this case
- Property gifted to both parties by wife's father and held jointly as and commingled with marital property should not be distributed equally to the parties because the wife's father had given the properties to provide for his daughter
- ongoing medical practice categorized as “income-producing” property
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
*409 MR. JUSTICE SHEEHY,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I must respectfully dissent from the majority in concluding that the gifts from the wife’s father to the couple must be counted as the wife’s contribution in dividing the marital estate. The record shows that the gifts were made irrevocably to the couple. That being so, ownership of one-half of the gifts was vested in the husband at the time of the gifts. It may be in the light of after-events that the father would not have made those gifts to the husband had the father known what was in the future, but we cannot cure that with our hindsight. This Court is in no better position to reverse the ownership of the gifts than the father’s executor would be. We might wish it otherwise, but that is the law.