Marriage of Lucas
California Supreme Court
614 P.2d 285 (1980)
Gerald (plaintiff) and Brenda Lucas (defendant), married since March 1964, saw Brenda receive a trust distribution in September 1964, which she placed into another trust naming herself trustee and beneficiary, keeping it her separate property; in 1968, the couple purchased a marital residence as joint tenants, with the down payment coming from Brenda's separate trust, mortgage payments made with community funds during the marriage, and $2,962 in improvements paid from Brenda's separate trust. The trial court found the property was owned 24.42 percent as community property and 75.58 percent as Brenda's separate property, based on tracing the funding sources; Gerald appealed the trial court's ownership determination as to the marital residence.
Whether the rebuttable presumption under state statute that real property titled by a husband and wife as a joint tenancy is intended to be held as community property can be overcome solely by evidence of the source of purchase funds.