Family Law

Did you ever think that a gift that you were given could become a contentious part of your Rhode Island Divorce? Most people would never even think of it because gifts, on the surface, are very straight-forward. I mean, just think about it. There is the person giving the gift and that person is considered to be the owner of that object. Then there is the person receiving the gift. Once the person who is giving the item gives it to the person they want to receive the item as a gift then it becomes the property of the person they gave it too. Now you'd expect that the one who receives the gift is the new owner, plain and simple and it has nothing to do with the marriage at all.

This is where everyday thinking and the law diverge because in many cases it is not as simple as people would like to keep it. Why is that? Because the law has standards of proof regarding gifts and what happens to the gift after it is given to the receiving party in a marriage can unknowingly change the item from a "gift" to an "asset of the marital estate".

If you've never heard the phrase, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." It's truer than most people would like to believe. You're expected to know the law. If you want to protect a gift from changing it's nature into a marital asset then you're expected to know the laws and cases that apply. If you don't know them and you cross the boundaries the statutes and cases have set then . . . well, it's best to make sure that you engage an experienced Rhode Island Divorce attorney if you want to have your best chance of keeping that gift.

Consider this case scenario and the questions it poses.

Gladys and Kyle have been dating for about two and a half years. They are both in their final year at the same medical school. Kyle graduates with high honors. Gladys is named valedictorian of her class. Both Gladys and Kyle are thrilled as offers begin to come in for residencies. On graduation day Gladys is with her parents when they congratulate her and hand her a savings passbook with $15,000 in it. Gladys is shocked. Her parents explain that it's a graduation gift to help her get started in her new career.

Kyle likewise meets with his parents who give him a key to a small cottage in Maine that they owned and seldom used but knew Kyle was fond of.

A year later Gladys and Kyle get married. Initially things start off a bit rocky as they manage their schedules so they try to come together a bit more by going to counseling. The counselor suggests that they do something together that takes them away from their jobs.

Gladys and Kyle settle on going to the cottage in Maine to spend time together. However, when they get there, they find its not in the best of shape and Gladys suggests they fix it up and she offers to dip into the passbook savings account she received from her parents.

About $5,000 later the cottage looks excellent. They spend the next two weeks at the cottage and for the next year they go to the cottage once a month for the weekend just to "get away together."

Unfortunately, as sometimes is the case careers and marriages don't make good bedfellows. Gladys and Kyle each get offers in the medical profession that they want to take in very distant locations and neither is willing to compromise. Kyle files for divorce. Gladys files a counterclaim for divorce.

Kyle is in shock when Gladys demands that the cottage in Maine be sold.

Gladys is just as much in shock when Kyle claims that he is entitled to half (1/2) of the remaining $10,000 in the passbook savings account her parents gave her at graduation.

Various questions arise here with perhaps a dozen legal arguments that might be made.  Here are just a few.

1. Does either the cottage or the passbook account (as they stand in the divorce right now) survive as a gift so they aren't considered part of the marital estate?

2. If Gladys voluntarily gave the $5,000 from her passbook account to fix up the cottage in Maine, did she give Kyle that money as a gift?

3.  If they both used the cottage while they were husband and wife, does it then become marital property?

4. If Kyle was put on the passbook savings account as the beneficiary in case of Gladys' death, does that have any bearing on Kyle's claim that it is a marital asset and he should get half?

5. If Kyle and Gladys filed joint tax returns each year as Married Filing Jointly and they took the property tax deductions on the cottage as well as claimed the interest income on the passbook savings account, does this affect either of their claims?

If you were faced with questions like this by a Rhode Island Divorce Judge on just this single issue of gifts, how would you respond?

As an attorney focusing my practice in Rhode Island Divorce and Family law I am trained to anticipate these things, yet in this scenario I see at least seven (7) other legal questions and issues that might need to be addressed. See if you can identify them?

Authored by:

Christopher A. Pearsall, Esquire
PEARSALL LAW ASSOCIATES
571 Pontiac Avenue
Cranston, RI  02910
Phone:  (401) 354-2369

Attorney Pearsall's practice is focused almost exclusively in the areas of Divorce and Family law.

NOTE:  The postings on this website are NOT legal advice, DO NOT create an attorney/client relationship and are NOT a substitute for a detailed consultation with an attorney experienced in the state where you have your legal issue.  This site is based on Rhode Island and is presented for the convenience of the internet public.

* The Rhode Island Supreme Court licenses all lawyers in the general practice of law and has no procedure for recognition of specialty in any area of law.