## Facts

- John Peter Skarbek (husband) and Dina Marie Supple Skarbek (wife) married in 1994 and separated in 1997 after moving to Walla Walla, Washington.
- At marriage, John held deposits in three separate bank accounts.
- After the move, John closed those accounts and deposited about $4,000 into a jointly titled checking account and $30,059.21 into a jointly titled savings account.
- The joint savings account later received additional deposits, including about $18,000 in community funds, John’s paychecks, gifts, tax refunds, and other presents.
- The parties used the accounts for living expenses, including transferring money from savings to checking to pay bills.
- At dissolution, John presented documentation tracing $46,000 in the joint accounts to his premarital separate funds.
- The trial court initially found the $46,000 traceable and awarded it to John as separate property, dividing the remainder as community property.
- On reconsideration, the trial court recharacterized the traced $46,000 as community property based on a presumed gift arising from placing separate funds into joint accounts and awarded Dina an additional $23,000 (half of the traced amount).
- John appealed the reconsideration ruling.

## Issues

1. Whether depositing separate funds into a joint bank account, without more, triggers a rebuttable presumption that the depositor gifted those funds to the community.
2. Whether traced and identifiable separate funds commingled in a joint account retain their separate character absent evidence of donative intent.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the reconsideration ruling and remanded.
- Depositing separate funds into a joint bank account is not an “acquisition of property” and therefore does not trigger a presumption of a gift to the community.
- Because John’s $46,000 was traced and identified as separate funds, it remained his separate property absent other evidence of donative intent.
- The trial court erred as a matter of law by applying a gift presumption and awarding Dina half of the traced funds.

## Legal Principles

- A rebuttable presumption of gift to the community may arise when separate funds are used to acquire property during marriage.
- Merely depositing separate funds into a joint bank account does not, by itself, constitute acquiring property and does not create a gift-to-community presumption.
- Commingling does not convert separate property to community property if the separate funds can be traced and identified; conversion occurs only when separate and community contributions cannot be distinguished or apportioned.
- In the absence of a presumption, a spouse asserting a gift must rely on evidence of donative intent beyond joint titling or deposit into a joint account.

## Conclusion

The court held that traced premarital funds deposited into a joint bank account remain separate property because the act of deposit does not trigger a presumption of a gift to the community, and the decree required recalculation on remand using the correct characterization.


In re Marriage of Skarbek, 100 Wash. App. 444, 997 P.2d 447 (Wash. Ct. App. 2000)