| Court: | WI Supreme Court |
| Facts: | Melitta's parents object to the marriage to Werner, so they sign a post-nuptial agreement to keep finances separate. Then they commingle: Werner manages all the money. Pretty well, actually. Now it's divorce time. |
| Posture: | Trial court concluded that the finances had been comingled. Appeal and cross-appeal. |
| Issue: | Can the inherited/gifted component of the assets still be identified and valued? |
| Holding: | No. Affirmed. |
| Rule: | We can only enforce the post-nuptial agreement if we can identify the protected assets with certainty. |
| Reasoning: | Inherited property is non-marital. We don't need to try and trace the assets; we just need to figure out if the record supports the trial court's findings. There were zillions of transactions, so we can't value the inherited portion. Also, it would be inequitable to enforce the agreement if Melitta hasn't done her part to make that possible. |
| Dicta: | |