Many people think that using funds which are clearly separate property “commingles” the separate property fund itself. This is not the case. Any funds taken from a separate account become commingled by family use but the fund from which the funds came remain separate.
In the case of McKissack v. McKissack, 45 So 3rd 716 (Ct. App. 20`10), the court held that use of funds from an inherited CD for family expenses did not commingle the unused inherited fund. The court refused to extend the family use doctrine to the unused portion and distinguished the situation from other family use cases such as where an entire inherited home is commi8ngled in marital property if the family lives in it.