If someone enters the marriage with pre-marital property, would any growth on that be separate or marital property?

The answer is it depends on the situation. If the party maintains it separate than any accumulation of wealth and if it’s a non-marital property, then the wealth that accumulates is non-marital property. There are situations in which if the other spouse contributes to the non-marital property, gives it time or effort or does their own money to contribute to that non-marital property to enhance the growth, then you could sort of have a situation where the growth may have a part that is not marital but, is marital. I’m sorry for that matter, but for the most part non-marital property or any wealth it accumulates remains non-marital.

Sean Sullivan is a family lawyer practicing in the Elmhurst, Illinois area at the law offices of Laura M Urbik Kern, specializing in child custody and dissolution in divorce. Visit his website, www.laurakern.com, and Divorce Magazine profile.