Marriage of Walgrath
Supreme Court of California
17 Cal. 4th 907 (1998)
Gilbert and Gladys Walgrath married in 1992. Before the marriage, Gilbert owned a home in Lucerne, California, and shortly after the wedding he deeded it to himself and Gladys as joint tenants. Gladys later paid down $20,000 of the loan on the Lucerne home from her separate property. The couple then refinanced the Lucerne property and used the loan proceeds to pay off a mortgage in Nevada, to acquire and improve property in Utah, and to pay down the Lucerne loan itself. The trial court allowed proportionate reimbursement from the Lucerne property's equity but ruled that Family Code section 2640 did not let Gilbert recover his separate-property contributions traced into the Nevada and Utah properties. The court of appeal affirmed, and Gilbert sought review in the California Supreme Court.
Whether a spouse is entitled to recover a separate-property investment from a community asset, and from any later asset acquired using that investment, when the contribution can be traced as separate property.