Ex-husband Says The Down Payment Money For Our Marital Home Can’t Be Split 50-50 Because It Was “a Gift Only To Him.”

Location: California.

TL;DR: can a “pre-inheritance gift“ from my in-laws be considered a gift ONLY to my ex if the money was wired to a joint account for the express purpose of a down payment on a home that both our names were on? Is this subject to 50-50 split?

We’re dividing assets, including our marital home which we were living in at the time of our separation. The house is in both our names and we were married when we bought it. He is keeping this house *plus* our first home, which we bought together but didn’t put my name on because we weren’t married at the time and his credit score was better (side note: via some complex calculation, I get something like 15% of the equity on the 1st house for the time we lived there after we got married). He will retain sole ownership of both homes and all future benefits / appreciation thereof.

He‘s arguing that I get none of the down payment back for our marital home because that money was a gift from his parents to him ONLY. I know there are instances where that would be true. My ex says he consulted a lawyer who confirmed his claim that a gift of money for a down payment on a jointly-owned home CAN be seen as his sole property because his parents considered it a “pre-inheritance“. Idk if it matters, but I was a stay home mom to our 1 child right up until our separation, so it was his income that paid the mortgage.

HOWEVER, it’s my understanding that, regardless of the supposed intention, if the money was wired directly into our joint bank account (co-mingled) it counts as a gift to both of us. It would therefore be subject to equal division in our divorce, right? ALSO, after his parents wired the money into our shared account, we got a cashier’a check — which had both our names on it — to give to the bank as our down payment. Shared bank account. Shared cashiers check. Shared home ownership.

I have a photograph of the cashiers check but lost access to the shared bank account shortly after I moved out, so do not have proof of the deposit from his parents.

Can anyone confirm how this works? Are there other technicalities at play here?

FWIW, this was not a case of his parents just giving us money for no specific purpose; they were aware we were trying to afford a bigger house after our baby was born, and knew it would be in both our names.

On a personal note, I also think they gifted us the money because our daughter is (and will continue to be) their only grandchild and they knew a bigger home would give her a better life. Around the same time, they bought themselves a house in the area so they could spend more time with her (they live several states away, but spend 4-6 months out of the year in their home here). They are amazingly generous and kind people, and I love how much they love her. As the person who birthed said grandchild, I do feel like the down payment gift was for the whole family — myself included.