## Facts

- Jerald Korwin Hofstad and Cathryn Anne Christie cohabited for extended periods from about 1996 to 2007, never married, and had twin sons in 1996.
- The parties maintained a shared household for years, including the twins and several of Hofstad’s children from a prior relationship.
- During a separation in 2005, Hofstad contracted to purchase a home on Donegal Street in Casper, Wyoming.
- After reconciliation, the warranty deed conveyed the Donegal property to “Jerald K. Hofstad and Cathryn Anne Christie,” as tenants in common.
- Hofstad paid the down payment, closing costs, and mortgage, and applied $124,053.15 from the sale of his separately titled Monument Road home to reduce the Donegal mortgage balance.
- Christie did not make comparable cash contributions but contributed as homemaker and participated in improvements to the home.
- Christie moved out in July 2007 and filed a partition action in December 2007 seeking division or sale of the Donegal property.
- After a bench trial, the district court ordered an equal partition of the property’s equity; Hofstad appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court erred by treating the parties’ long-term, unmarried cohabitation with children as a “family relationship” relevant to ownership and partition of a jointly titled home.
2. Whether the court erred by applying a presumption that Hofstad intended a gift of an equal interest to Christie despite his greater monetary contributions.
3. Whether the district court improperly placed on Hofstad the burden to prove lack of donative intent.
4. Whether, absent marriage or specific proof of a gift, partition should have been based on unequal financial contributions rather than equal shares.

## Decision

- The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the judgment ordering equal partition.
- The court held that joint title as tenants in common triggered a presumption of equal ownership.
- The evidence supported treating the parties’ relationship and household with shared children as a family-type relationship for purposes of the presumption.
- The court found sufficient indicia that Hofstad intended Christie to have an equal interest, including placing her on the deed and using the home as the shared household.
- The court upheld the burden allocation requiring Hofstad, as the party disputing equal ownership under joint title, to show lack of donative intent, which he failed to do.

## Legal Principles

- When real property is titled in both parties’ names as tenants in common, there is a presumption that each holds an equal beneficial interest.
- Unequal purchase-price contributions alone do not defeat the presumption of equal shares when the circumstances support an intended equal ownership arrangement.
- A family-type relationship, including long-term cohabitation and shared children, may be considered in evaluating whether the equal-ownership presumption applies and whether excess contributions were intended as a gift.
- Placing another person on the deed may support a finding of donative intent to convey a present ownership interest.
- The party challenging equal ownership under joint title bears the burden to prove absence of donative intent sufficient to rebut the presumption.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed an equal division of equity in a home deeded to unmarried co-parents as tenants in common, holding that the presumption of equal ownership and donative intent was not rebutted by one party’s disproportionate financial contributions.


Hofstad v. Christie, 240 P.3d 816 (Wyo. 2010)