Money that one spouse earned or owned before marriage can lose its nonmarital status when it goes into a joint account. Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal applied that rule in a short Hillsborough County divorce appeal. In Anderson v. Anderson, No. 2D2025-1747, decided November 4, 2026, the court reversed a credit the husband received for his separate money used on the down payment of the marital home, and affirmed a credit for the bills he paid afterward. Judge Kelly wrote the opinion. Judges Black and Guard concurred.
The facts
The parties were married for two years. The husband owned a home in Georgia when they met. After they married and decided to move to Florida, he sold it and put the proceeds in a joint bank account the couple used for general expenses. He also added a lump sum he had earned from his employment. The couple then used money from the joint account for the down payment on a house under construction in Tampa, titled in both names. The wife filed for divorce shortly after the house was finished.
The husband moved out but kept paying the mortgage and all other house expenses for the two years before trial. The wife paid nothing toward the mortgage or the upkeep. At trial the husband asked for credit in equitable distribution for his nonmarital money in the down payment and for the two years of expenses. The wife argued the down payment money had been a gift to the marriage and that the expense payments were really temporary support for her. The trial court gave the husband both credits.
The down payment credit
The court reversed on this point. Nonmarital assets include assets acquired separately by either spouse, but they can lose that character when commingled with marital assets. “This is especially true with respect to money,” the court said, quoting an earlier case, because money is fungible and once commingled it loses its separate character. When a spouse deposits money into a joint account, a presumption arises that he gave the other spouse a one-half interest in it, and the spouse claiming nonmarital status must overcome that presumption by clear and convincing evidence. The husband did not. “Rather, the evidence shows just the opposite,” the court wrote: he placed his separate funds in a joint account and paid the down payment from it, for a home titled in both names. The down payment money was marital property.
The bills credit
The court found no error here. Credit for a party’s payment of marital property expenses during separation is a matter of judicial discretion, considering all the circumstances. The wife lived in the home and paid nothing toward its expenses. The trial court found she had enough income to contribute and had not proved a need for temporary support, and the court said the record supported that finding.
The result
The court reversed the down payment credit, remanded for recalculation of equitable distribution, and affirmed the judgment in all other respects. The wife represented herself on appeal. The court said that, with this one exception, it found “no merit” in her other arguments.
The opinion is marked “subject to revision prior to official publication.”
Read the opinion (PDF): Download the opinion (PDF)