A spouse’s separate property is not part of the marital estate
Non-Marital property is any property the spouse expressly kept out of the marital estate and expressly held in their own name during the marriage as separate property.
Non-marital property is legally defined as that property that is acquired before the marriage. In addition, exclusive gifts or bequests expressly made to one spouse during the marriage such as an inheritance, is presumed to be that parities separate property.
For property to remain separate the parties must not commingle separate property with marital property such as having a joint checking and savings account from which both spouses use to purchase property.
One spouse has no right to the separate property of the other spouse. The owner of the non-marital property has the exclusive right to manage and control their property including disposing of it in any way they wish.
