DIVORCE AND MARITAL RESIDENCE

Here the parties were married in 2000; the rest of the facts are set forth below.

Santamaria v Santamaria, 2019 NY Slip Op 08239, Decided on November 13, 2019, Appellate Division, Second Department:

"The defendant contends that the Supreme Court should not have awarded the plaintiff a separate property credit in the sum of $332,000 related to the marital residence. The plaintiff contends that the court should have awarded him sole title to the marital residence, and should not have awarded the defendant 50% of any equity in the marital residence that accrued from 2002 until the date of sale.

"Equitable distribution presents issues of fact to be resolved by the trial court and should not be disturbed on appeal unless shown to be an improvident exercise of discretion" (Loria v Loria, 46 AD3d 768, 769-770). "Equitable distribution does not necessarily mean equal distribution," and requires the court's consideration of all relevant statutory factors (Faello v Faello, 43 AD3d 1102, 1103; see Domestic Relations Law § 236[B][5][d]).

Here, on the record presented, the Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in awarding the plaintiff a separate property credit of $332,000 related to the marital residence, and awarding the defendant a 50% share of any equity in the residence that accrued from 2002 until the date of its sale. The evidence at trial demonstrated that in 2002, the plaintiff's mother transferred ownership of the subject property, where she resided, to the plaintiff and retained a life estate in the property. In 2010, after the death of plaintiff's mother, the plaintiff transferred ownership of the property to himself and the defendant. At the time, the property was appraised at a value of $332,000. In 2011, after renovations were conducted, the parties and their children moved to the property, and it became the marital residence.

The plaintiff's conveyance of the home in 2010 to himself and the defendant presumptively changed the character of the home from separate property to marital property (see Nidositko v Nidositko, 92 AD3d 653; D'Elia v D'Elia, 14 AD3d 477, 478; Diaco v Diaco, 278 AD2d 358, 359). We agree with the court's determination to award the plaintiff a separate property credit in the amount at which the residence was valued at the time the property was transferred to both parties (see Nidositko v Nidositko, 92 AD3d at 654; Monks v Monks, 134 AD2d 334, 335; Coffey v Coffey, 119 AD2d 620, 622). Furthermore, in light of the evidence that significant marital funds were used over the years to help preserve the plaintiff's separate property asset, the court providently exercised its discretion in awarding the defendant 50% of any equity in the marital residence that accrued from 2002 until the date of its sale."