## Facts

- George Fisher Robinson (Husband) and Elisa Kenty Robinson (Wife) married in November 1999 and separated in September 2002; they had no children.
- During the marriage, neither spouse worked; their living expenses were paid from monthly income Husband received from a trust he inherited from his mother.
- Husband received roughly $50,000 per month in trust income; he could not invade the trust principal and did not control how the income was generated.
- Shortly after marriage, the parties opened a joint checking account and a joint savings account.
- Husband arranged for his trust income to be deposited into the joint checking account, and household bills (including mortgage and other expenses) were paid from that account.
- Over the marriage, Husband deposited over $2.15 million into the joint checking account; Wife deposited only a small amount (about $3,700).
- The parties purchased a residence titled jointly in both names, with Wife co-signing the mortgage; the purchase and related costs were paid using funds traceable to Husband’s trust income.
- The parties also acquired vehicles titled in both names, paid for using funds traceable to Husband’s trust income.
- At trial, the joint savings account held about $244,000 and the joint checking account held about $69,000.
- In the divorce and equitable distribution proceeding, the trial court classified the joint accounts (and much of the property acquired during the marriage with trust income and held in joint title) as marital property.
- Husband appealed, challenging the trial court’s property classification and resulting equitable distribution.

## Issues

1. Whether assets acquired during the marriage using income from Husband’s inherited trust, and placed in joint accounts or joint title, were properly classified as marital property under Virginia Code § 20-107.3.
2. Whether Husband’s tracing evidence and the statutory standards on commingling and gift were applied correctly when determining if any separate property was transmuted into marital property.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Virginia, sitting en banc, reversed the trial court’s classification of much of the parties’ property as marital property and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.
- The court held the trial court misapplied Virginia’s equitable distribution statute by broadly treating trust-funded assets as marital despite Husband’s tracing evidence and the rules governing transmutation and gift.
- The court declined to award attorney’s fees to either party on appeal.

## Legal Principles

- Under Virginia Code § 20-107.3, property acquired by bequest, devise, descent, survivorship, or gift from someone other than the spouse is separate property.
- Income derived from separate property may remain separate when it is not the result of either spouse’s personal efforts, subject to statutory transmutation rules.
- Commingling does not automatically change separate property into marital property if the separate portion can be traced by a preponderance of the evidence.
- When separate property is retitled into joint names, Virginia law may apply a presumption that the contributing spouse made a gift to the marital estate; that presumption must be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence showing no donative intent.
- A court must correctly classify property (separate, marital, or hybrid) before it distributes property; equitable distribution cannot be used to bypass the classification rules and evidentiary burdens.

## Conclusion

Robinson held that the trial court erred by treating trust-derived funds and trust-funded acquisitions as broadly marital based mainly on their placement in joint accounts or joint title, without properly applying Virginia’s statutory classification framework, tracing rules, and the heightened standard for proving (or rebutting) a gift when separate property is put in joint form; the equitable distribution award was therefore reversed and remanded for a new analysis consistent with Code § 20-107.3.


Robinson v. Robinson, 621 S.E.2d 147 (2005)