David v. David, No. 122145 in the Virginia Supreme Court, was decided February 27, 2014. It delineated that the spouse owning separate property bears the burden of proving whether significant personal effort during marriage proximately caused substantial appreciation of that separate property during marriage. Id. at 14.
Significantly, David represents a break from the “Court of Appeals longstanding interpretation of Code §20-107.3(A)”. Id. at 6. But the Virginia Supreme Court emphasized its ruling in David is based on the “plain language” of that statute, including particularly its 1991 Amendment; noted that its ruling is consistent with legislative history; and overruled any Court of Appeals decisions to the contrary. Id. at 9-14.
