Commingled property makes for surprises when it is divided in a divorce. A money gift to one spouse deposited in an account in both names become commingled property and may be viewed as a gift to the marriage, i.e., both parties.

Transmutation by single account generally makes the separate funds marital "only when it is impossible to trace the separate funds."

Dual classification, equitable distribution states do not have uniform definitions of estate.

Very often young couples starting life together pool their money and do not worry about ownership during the happy times of the marriage. For example, they pool their bank accounts, and add to this money funds they received wedding gifts with the idea that down the road they will use it for a house.

Cases where marital and separate money have been commingled often have be traced before they can be divided as part of a property distribution.

Normally, questions about transmutation turn on arguments about whether separate property became martial as a result of commingling. Sometimes, the question turns on whether marital property became separate. This is called reverse transmutation.

For a variety of reasons, married couples sometimes transmute martial property into separate property. In a dispute, the interest in the marital property.

Reverse transmutations often happen in conjunction with what are midnuptial agreements, which are those made by spouses after their marriage but before (and not necessarily in anticipation of) a divorce. Couples sometimes enter into midnuptial agreements as part of tax or estate planning.

See also Dual Classification States.