DIVORCE - DEGREE OF PROOF NEEDED TO PROVE SEPARATE PROPERTY CREDIT

Culen v Culen, 2018 NY Slip Op 00541, Decided on January 31, 2018, Appellate Division, Second Department:

"Furthermore, the defendant's contention that he was entitled to a separate property credit for his contributions to the down payment on the marital residence is without merit. The defendant's self-serving trial testimony that his aunt gave him a check in the sum of $50,000, that his uncle gave him the sum of $10,000, and that he used these funds toward the down payment, was unsupported by documentary evidence, and insufficient to establish his entitlement to a separate property credit (see Rosenberg v Rosenberg, 145 AD3d 1052, 1055; Horn v Horn, 145 AD3d 666, 667; Wasserman v Wasserman, 66 AD3d 880, 883). Additionally, the Supreme Court properly found that the defendant failed to present sufficient evidence tracing the source of any funds used to purchase the martial residence to the sale of certain stock, which was purportedly the defendant's separate property (see Maddaloni v Maddaloni, 142 AD3d 646, 652)."