HUSBAND DID NOT DEMONSTRATE ENTITLEMENT TO 50% OF THE APPRECIATION OF WIFE’S SEPARATE PROPERTY IN THIS DIVORCE ACTION (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing (modifying) Supreme Court in this divorce action, determined 50% of the appreciation of the wife’s separate property should not have been distributed to the husband:

The court improperly distributed 50% of the appreciation of the wife’s separate real property because the husband failed to establish his entitlement to it. The husband argues that he is entitled to 50% of the appreciation of the property on the ground that he actively contributed toward the renovations of the property. However, the husband fails to provide any nexus between his alleged contributions and the property’s appreciation in value. The husband relies on the testimony of a city tax assessor, who testified only as to the property’s passive appreciation, specifically, that the property appreciated in value based on comparative sales in the area, and did not testify that any appreciation in value was due to the renovations done to the property. Indeed, the assessor could not have testified as to whether the property appreciated due to the renovations because he never entered the property to view any of the renovations and he did not take such renovations into account when making his assessment. Gordon v Anderson, 2020 NY Slip Op 00034, First Dept 1-2-20