Marriage of Smith v. Villareal, 298 P.3d 533

Husband purchased two rental properties for his daughters from a prior marriage in 2007 with separate funds.
Titles on the two properties were joint-tenancies, despite separate funding.
Trial court included the two rental properties in the divisible marital estate.
The marriage produced no shared children; business earnings funded other marital homes.
Court affirmed disposition of the remaining marital estate but reversed on the two rentals.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Are the two rental properties part of the marital estate?	Villareal did not intend a gift; joint tenancy did not convert to marital property.	Properties were acquired during marriage and titled jointly, creating a presumption of a gift to the marital estate.	No; clear and convincing evidence rebutted the gift presumption; not part of the marital estate.
Is the remainder of the marital estate disposition correct?	Trial court erred in including rentals; rest should be affirmed as equitable.	Trial court’s other divisions were proper and supported by evidence.	Yes; rest of the trial court’s disposition affirmed.

Larman v. Larman, 991 P.2d 536 (1999 OK 83) (presumption of gift overcome by donative intent evidence when joint tenancy is used to facilitate a transaction)
Teel v. Teel, 766 P.2d 994 (1988 OK 151) (donative intent and joint tenancy considerations in property division)
Francis v. Rogers, 40 P.3d 481 (2001 OK 111) (equitable cognizance standard in divorce property division)
Chastain v. Posey, 665 P.2d 1179 (1983 OK 46) (principles guiding marital-property classification and donative transfers)
Fletcher v. Fletcher, 244 P.2d 827 (1952 OK) (early authorities on property distribution and donative transfers in divorce)