Gifts, Joint Ownership, and Marital Property: Interspousal Transfers of Property Under Maine's Marital Property Act

The classification of property in divorce proceedings as either marital or individual is crucial because under Maine's Marital Property Act a divorce decree can dispose of only marital property. Once the court identifies the marital property, the actual division of that property is within the court's discretion. Courts, however, often have difficulty classifying property which was once individual property but which was transferred by the owner spouse into joint ownership during the course of the marriage. Maine courts have reached different results in these situations depending on whether they have read the Marital Property Act literally or in the context of its underlying policy. This Note analyzes several opinions of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in which the court construed Maine's Marital Property Act as it applies to the disposition of jointly held property acquired through interspousal transfers. Accepting the partnership theory of marriage which underlies the Act, the Note supports an interpretation of the Act which allows the courts to bring property that was in fact incidental to the marriage within the marital estate. The Note argues that by augmenting the marital estate, the courts can thus effectuate the most equitable division of the parties' property.