Summary
In Foti, we held that the wife was not entitled to partial summary judgment determining that certain property was separate property because there was an issue of fact whether she had commingled her interests in the property with marital property.
Summary of this case from Sayers v. SayersOpinion
2014-02-7
Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Kenneth R. Fisher, J.), entered April 4, 2012 in a divorce action. The order granted the motion of defendant for partial summary judgment determining that various real estate entities and management companies were her separate property. Joan de R. O'Byrne, Rochester (Michael Steinberg of Counsel), for Plaintiff–Appellant. Kaman, Berlove, Marafioti, Jacobstein & Goldman LLP, Rochester (Michael Paul of Counsel), for Defendant–Respondent.
Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Kenneth R. Fisher, J.), entered April 4, 2012 in a divorce action. The order granted the motion of defendant for partial summary judgment determining that various real estate entities and management companies were her separate property.
Joan de R. O'Byrne, Rochester (Michael Steinberg of Counsel), for Plaintiff–Appellant. Kaman, Berlove, Marafioti, Jacobstein & Goldman LLP, Rochester (Michael Paul of Counsel), for Defendant–Respondent.
MEMORANDUM:
In this divorce action, defendant moved for partial summary judgment determining that various real estate entities and management companies (hereafter, entities) were her separate property. We agree with plaintiff that Supreme Court erred in granting the motion. Although defendant established that her father gifted the entities to her as separate property ( see generally Allen v. Allen, 263 A.D.2d 691, 692, 693 N.Y.S.2d 708), there is an issue of fact whether defendant thereafter commingled her interests in the entities with marital property ( see generally Richter v. Richter, 77 A.D.3d 1470, 1471, 908 N.Y.S.2d 518; Haas v. Haas, 265 A.D.2d 887, 888, 695 N.Y.S.2d 644). Here, the parties filed a joint federal tax return in which defendant reported her interest in the entities as tax losses, and “[a] party to litigation may not take a position contrary to a position taken in an income tax return” (Mahoney–Buntzman v. Buntzman, 12 N.Y.3d 415, 422, 881 N.Y.S.2d 369, 909 N.E.2d 62).
It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is unanimously reversed on the law without costs and defendant's motion is denied. SMITH, J.P., FAHEY, VALENTINO, and WHALEN, JJ., concur.