Non-marital property division

The Minnesota Supreme Court has recently determined that the non-marital character of a party's asset is a function of the actual effort the party (husband or wife or both) put into the asset. In other words, just having effective control over the asset, such as an investment account, by hiring a money manager, does not render the account marital. It is, rather, the amount of time and effort the party actually and personally puts into the management of the account. In the Baker v Baker case, the court was asked to decide if an investment account and the appreciation in value was marital. The Court said, "the single test for whether appreciation in value of nonmarital property is marital or nonmarital is the extent to which marital effort—the financial or nonfinancial efforts of one or both spouses during the marriage—generated the increase." Simply having control over the account with no or minimal personal involvement with the funds was not enough. The court held that if appellant’s minimal actions constituted "active management," there is essentially no way to "passively" maintain nonmarital funds.