Sarah was careful to remind me that an account’s name did not by itself make everything in it separate property.

We documented the contributions and negotiated its treatment rather than relying on assumptions.

When Mark asked for all the savings, he meant the visible joint account.

He knew it once held enough for a long vacation and a comfortable emergency cushion.

He did not know that the cushion had been depleted covering his company’s tax bills and several weeks of payroll.

Those withdrawals were documented too.