Your Parents Helped You Buy a House — But Could Those Funds Be Lost in a California Divorce?

We have a case recently, wife's dad, through a trust, sent like $250,000 for a down payment for the house that she and her husband bought, and it came right from the trust bank account to escrow to purchase the house. Her husband's parents gave $200,000, but the money went into a bank account in husband's name, and then he transferred that into a joint bank account, And then the money sat there for a few months where they were spending, you know, paying bills, and then it went to escrow. The family law rules about like, okay, so at the time of divorce, Mary's going to get that— her, her— the money that came from the trust, she's going to get back. Mhm. Because it came directly from the trust to escrow. Mhm. The money that, that, that husband's parents gave might not come back because of, of the way the path that it took. In mediation, you know, people can either— people can honor the fact that they know where the money came from, even though that either person or one person can't satisfy like the tracing rules that exist for California divorce.