Cited by

¶21 But when the transactions (deposits and expenditures) are so mixed that a court cannot tell how much money is separate and how much is community, “a transmutation of separate money into community money occurs.”

See Cooper, 130 Ariz. at 259-60 (reversing trial court’s finding that savings account was wife’s separate property, where account consisted of wife’s separate funds and funds belonging to the community and wife “did not sustain her burden of demonstrating which portion of the monies in the account retained their separate character”); (holding that, where husband and wife maintained one shared bank account and both contributed separate funds to the account, the funds in the shared account, “throu

(property purchased on credit that acquires status of separate property retains that status regardless of whether community or separate funds are used to pay debt).

¶16 “The concept of community property law in Arizona is built upon two pillars[.]”

There is no evidence in the record that Wife’s Bank Account was “treated as community property without segregation,” or that separate and community funds were “so mixed together that a court is unable to tell how much money was originally separate and how much was originally community,”

Separate property may be transmuted into community property when it is commingled to the degree that “the identity of the property as separate or community is lost.”

–60 (1981); (A mere change in the form of the property does not change the character of the property.).

¶26 The character of property as separate or community is generally fixed at the time of acquisition; however, separate property may be transformed into community property when there is commingling to such an extent that “the identity of the property as separate or community is lost.”

‘Time of acquisition’ refers to the time at which 4 STOCK v. STOCK Opinion of the Court the right to obtain title occurs, not to the time when legal title actually is conveyed.” (citations omitted).

(explaining the mere mutation in form of marital property or separate property does not change the character of the property).

Bell-Kilbourn, 216 Ariz. at 523, ¶ 5

(“Time of acquisition” for purposes of community property means the time when “the right to obtain title occurs, not to the time when legal title actually is conveyed.”(citation omitted)).3 ¶13 Wife contends the superior court erred by not following this court’s decision

However, separate property may be transmuted into community property when there is commingling to the degree that “the identity of the property as separate or community is lost.”

matter of law that deed conveying property to husband and wife as tenants in common gave wife undivided one-half interest in the property); , (noting that mother and daughter’s ownership of real property as tenants in common gave each of them an undivided one-half interest as sole and separate property); , 627 * (recognizing that property retains its status as community or separate unless changed by agreement of the parties or by operation of law).

(once character of property is fixed, it remains the same unless changed by parties’ agreement or operation of law).

Statiss v. Stauss, 82 Ariz. *250 268, Lawson v. Ridgeway, supra