Commingle Inheritance by depositing funds into joint account?

the line of credit - I'm guessing he took it after she'd be able to object to it - and is he the only signer on it? If so, make damn sure he doesn't try to saddle her with a single penny of it.

His old financial statements, guarantee they will say his former attorney was incompetent and he retracts all previous statements. Not uncommon.

I'm confident on the inheritance because A) it was put in a joint account that was used for joint bills - doesn't matter if there was $1 or $10,000 before it was deposited - if he wanted it all for himself he should have put it ina seperate account.

even if it were in a seperate account, the plain fact he paid the taxes from a joint account gives Betty rights to funds from it.

I'll poke around and get you some case law for your attorney to look at....

He did pay the mortgage and other expenses out of the account after depositing the inheritance.  However, because the account had less than $10,000 in it before the inheritance, our attorney feels the judge may rule that the funds remaining must be mostly, if not all, part of the inheritance.  I wish our attorney was as confident as you seem to be.  We have requested documentation of the account to trace the separate property.  Our understanding is that unless they provide the documentation prior to our court date, they won't be allowed to present it in court. 

They do own a home, but he has drawn $75,000 on a line of credit (I believe $25,000 of which was included in the gift he gave his other son) leaving very little equity in the home.

Both financial statements and his last objections claiming all assets were community assets were filed with the help of an attorney.  However, he has retained a new attorney.

While we agree he did receive the inheritance, he treated these funds as community property from the very beginning.  He also prevented us from getting medi-cal for Betty because he refused to provide the requested financial info to the county.  He said it was because his financial planner told him Betty would not qualify because of their assets.  If he truly believed his inhertance was separate property, there wouldn't have been a problem providing the info.

We were finally able to qualify Betty for medi-cal approx. 6 months later based on the fact she has no access to their funds.  Medi-cal pays for limited in-home support.  It helps, but when someone requires 24-hr care, it still leaves a huge expense. 

Thank you very much for your input. 

the loan he gave to someone is money gone - she has no claim to any part of that - gift/loan what have you - she can't request for any part of that to be given to her. You have no real way of proving it wasn't a gift...

The rest of the inheritance, you'd have to have proof that he paid for things for her during those 8 months with funds from that joint account. If that can be done, like say the mortgage for the home they shared, or any of her medical - than it becomes joint marital property. There is case law on this, your attorney should be able to find it to bolster your case.

Speaking of a home, do they have one they own? If so, she is entitled to equity in it as well - and he will have to buy her out of her share of it.

If he made claims prior to retaining an attorney, his past statements won't mean much...worry more about proving your side of things, than trying to make him eat his words...