Marital Interest

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WI Court of Appeals – District III

Case Name: Amara Gerger v. Yajaira Vanessa Avila Gerger

Case No.: 2021AP001647

Officials: Stark, P.J., Hruz and Gill, JJ.

Focus: Marital Interest

Joseph and Vanessa Gerger were married on February 5, 2018. On July 31, 2018, they purchased a home in Antigo for $90,000. Joseph used money he had inherited from his grandmother to pay for the home in cash. The deed to the home listed only Joseph as the grantee, and it identified him as being single despite his marriage to Vanessa. Vanessa did not sign any documents related to the closing, and she was not present at the closing.  According to Vanessa, upon his return from the closing, Joseph handed Vanessa the deed and stated, “This is your house.”

Three of decedent Joseph Gerger’s children—Amara Gerger, Alice Gerger, and Gabriel Gerger—appeal a judgment granting a “Petition for Decedent’s Interest in Home” filed by Joseph’s widow, Vanessa. The children argue that the circuit court erred by reforming a real estate deed to provide Vanessa a survivorship marital interest in the couple’s home, thereby entitling her to the proceeds from the home sale.

As the circuit court noted, if Joseph intentionally identified himself as being single in order to ensure the property remained with him if he and Vanessa divorced, “then he definitely engaged in a fraudulent transfer, which [would] entitle[]we Vanessa to the equitable relief [sought].” Ultimately, the evidence and the reasonable inferences available therefrom provide a sufficient basis for the court’s discretionary decision to grant Vanessa equitable relief, even if reasonable opposing inferences were available

Affirmed.

Decided 07/18/23

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