In re Marriage of Parker, 2022 IL App (5th) 210225-U

- Case citation and parties
In re Marriage of Parker, 2022 IL App (5th) 210225‑U (5th Dist. Oct. 6, 2022) (Rule 23 order) — Petitioner‑Appellant: Jennifer Parker; Respondent‑Appellee: David Parker.

- Key legal issues
1. Whether real estate conveyed by deed from third‑party parents to one spouse during the marriage is nonmarital property.
2. Validity and effect of a postnuptial agreement (clarity, consideration, meeting of the minds) purporting to make certain property that spouse’s separate property.
3. Whether the trial court properly classified and distributed property (including a home built on gifted land) in the dissolution judgment.

- Holding / outcome
The appellate court reversed and remanded. It held the trial court’s failure to classify property acquired by gift as nonmarital was against the manifest weight of the evidence. (The trial court had found the postnuptial agreement ambiguous and invalid, but nonetheless failed to identify nonmarital property in its property division.)

- Significant legal reasoning
- Deeds transferring the parcels to Jennifer alone and testimony that the tracts were gifts from her parents supported classification as nonmarital property. Property conveyed by gift to one spouse is presumptively nonmarital absent evidence of transmutation or other contrary intent.
- The postnuptial agreement was ambiguous on its face and lacked clearly articulated consideration and mutual assent; the trial court therefore found it invalid. Ambiguities were construed against the drafter.
- Despite recognizing the land was gifted, the trial court did not classify or list any nonmarital property in the judgment or otherwise account for the legal effect of the gifts — an omission the appellate court found erroneous and requiring remand for proper classification and division (including any reimbursement or lien issues related to mortgages/home equity borrowing).

- Practice implications (concise)
- When a spouse receives real property by gift, preserve and introduce documentary proof (deeds, transfer instruments, donor testimony, timing) to secure nonmarital classification.
- Draft postnuptial agreements with clear, four‑corners language: specify assets (including residences built on gifted land), explicit consideration, duration/conditions, and mutual assent; avoid ambiguity (ambiguities will be construed against the drafter).
- When property built on gifted land is contested, address reimbursement claims, trace marital contributions (mortgage payments, improvements), and present valuations tying improvements to the gifted parcel.
- On appeal risk: Rule 23 orders are nonprecedential in many contexts — but factual omissions (failure to classify) are reversible where the record plainly establishes nonmarital status.