Property Titled in Husband’s Name Held to Be Marital
Tennessee case summary on property classification in divorce.
Property held to be marital, even though titled in name of husband.
Kathleen Nell Snapp v. Timothy Alva Snapp
The parties in this Sullivan County, Tennessee, case divorced after over two decades of marriage. Prior to the marriage, the husband owned property on which he lived in a mobile home. During the marriage, a house was constructed on the property. The key issue in the case was whether the property was marital property or the husband’s separate property.
The trial court held that the property was marital property. It found the wife had contributed to the value and appreciation, due to her planning and work on the house. It also noted that the parties had used marital credit cards to pay for many of the improvements. It awarded the wife a half interest in the property, and the husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The appeals court began by noting that this determination needs to be made based upon all of the relevant facts and considerations. It also pointed out that separate property may become marital through the doctrine of transmutation. One key factor on whether transmutation has occurred is the use of the property as a marital residence. In this case, the parties had used the property as their residence for over twenty years, so this factor strongly favored transmutation.
In this case, the wife had also made contributions to the maintenance of the property, another factor that favored a finding of transmutation. Since the parties used their credit cards to fund the property, this factor also favored transmutation.
The only factor that was contrary was the fact that the property was titled in the name of the husband and his father.
For these reasons, the Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court that the property had transmuted. It therefore affirmed the lower court’s ruling, and taxed the costs of appeal against the husband.
No. E2023-00251-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. June 28, 2024).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Transmutation in Tennessee Property Division Divorce Law.
To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.
To learn more, see Property Division in Tennessee Divorce and view our video Is Tennessee a 50 50 divorce state?
