## Facts

- In 1966, Jeanette L. Borghi acquired a parcel of real property under a real estate contract, before marrying Robert G. Borghi.
- Jeanette and Robert married on March 29, 1975.
- On July 12, 1975, a developer executed a special warranty deed conveying the property to “Robert G. & Jeanette L. Borghi, husband and wife,” in fulfillment of the preexisting contract.
- The deed was recorded in 1979; during the marriage the couple lived on the property and used it to secure a mortgage for a mobile home placed on the land.
- Jeanette died intestate in 2005, survived by Robert (spouse) and Arthur R. Gilroy (son from a prior marriage).
- The parties agreed the property was Jeanette’s separate property when acquired; the dispute was whether later joint titling changed its character to community property.

## Issues

1. Whether a postmarriage deed placing premarital separate property in both spouses’ names creates a presumption of a gift to the marital community sufficient to overcome the presumption that premarital acquisitions remain separate property.
2. What showing is required to prove transmutation of separate property to community property in this context.

## Decision

- The Washington Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals.
- The property remained Jeanette’s separate property at death.
- The court rejected a general “joint title gift presumption” based solely on placing title in both spouses’ names.
- The court held there was no clear evidence that Jeanette intended to make a present gift of an interest in the property to Robert or to the community.

## Legal Principles

- Property owned or acquired before marriage is presumed separate property.
- Once property is established as separate at acquisition, it is presumed to retain that character unless changed by direct and positive evidence.
- Transmutation of separate property to community property requires clear and convincing evidence of intent to change character; the form of title, standing alone, is not controlling.
- Joint titling may be evidence of intent, but it does not by itself establish a gift to the community; some clear manifestation of donative intent (such as an acknowledged writing or comparable proof) is required.
- Prior suggestions in dissolution cases that joint title alone creates a gift presumption were disapproved; stability in property characterization favors requiring proof beyond title form.

## Conclusion

The court held that retitling premarital separate property in both spouses’ names does not, by itself, convert the property to community property; absent clear and convincing evidence of donative intent, the premarital separate-property character continues and passes through the decedent’s separate estate.


In re Estate of Borghi, 167 Wn.2d 480, 219 P.3d 932 (Wash. 2009)