Opinion ID: 1251349
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Purchase Component

Text: In Walton v. Walton , 282 S.C. 165, 318 S.E. (2d) 14 (1984), we held that one spouse did not have an equitable interest in property acquired by the other spouse prior to the marriage. Here, however, Husband only acquired legal title to the house prior to the marriage. Except for the few monthly payments which he made before the marriage, both Husband and Wife acquired the purchase component of the interest by paying off the loans, by their joint efforts , during the marriage. While the purchase component was originally nonmarital in character, it was transmuted into marital property by wife's contributions to its acquisition. We hold that, under the facts presented here, the purchase component of the interest in the home was marital property subject to equitable division. Cf. Sauls v. Sauls , ___ S.C. ___, 337 S.E. (2d) 893 (Ct. App. 1985) (one spouse denied an equitable interest in a home purchased and paid for by the other spouse prior to marriage).