Ever since the Georgia Supreme Court decided a home on Skidaway Island qualified as marital property in the notable Lerch v. Lerch case in 2005, estate planning attorneys, wealth and investment advisers, certified public accountants and other professionals working with married couples have had to proceed with extreme caution with the advice they bestow on their clients. As Georgia is an equitable distribution state, all property in a divorce will be categorized as either separate or marital. Most advisers (and clients), however, don't think twice about pooling bank accounts or putting both spouses' names on home deeds. Yet what happens when the lines of ownership become blurred? This issue is at the core of many legal battles, and advisers should be armed with information as they counsel their clients in areas dealing with ownership of property or assets of any kind. Title Does Matter As was the case in Lerch , many couples bring property or money to a marriage as individual owners and make adjustments after the honeymoon is over. Consider Mr. Lerch, a husband who owned a home prior to his marriage and later decided to add his wife's name to the deed. Based on that change in title alone, the Georgia Supreme Court found that Mr. Lerch had “manifested an intent to transform his own separate property into marital property.” This decision formed the basis from which all decisions around the “transmutation of property” in the state of Georgia have been decided since. What was missing in Lerch that resulted in the unfavorable outcome for Mr. Lerch? The answer: a clear, documented statement of intent that he was not making a gift to the marriage. Lerch reminds us that when a gift is given to a marital couple, such as the deed transfer in this case, the property is considered marital as well—unless there is documentation that demonstrates intention to the contrary. Despite the husband's presumed intention of giving the wife right of survivorship for estate planning purposes, the Supreme Court ruled that the home should be considered marital. Score one for the former Mrs. Lerch. Advice for Practitioners Practitioners should be advising their clients about the benefits of keeping separate property separately titled. For instance, a probate attorney might be well advised to inform his or her client that the inherited funds the client is receiving may well be subject to division in a future divorce action should that client deposit them into a joint account. A personal injury attorney should be aware that recoveries are the separate property of the recipient in the event of divorce and that to preserve that claim, the attorney should be telling his or her client to deposit the proceeds into an individually titled account. There are, of course, situations where it is beneficial for an asset to be jointly-titled or even titled in a spouse's individual name. Estate planning attorneys and certified public accountants typically, and rightfully, approach asset protection with both spouses' best interests in mind. It is not uncommon for a spouse to shield assets by putting them in the other spouse's name, for example, such as in instances where the spouse with the assets is involved in high-risk business deals. Another common scenario is an estate planner advising a client about the simplicity of adding his or her spouse to a real estate deed as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, as was the case in Lerch . This avoids probate and allows for an efficient transfer of property. In these situations, practitioners should stress to their clients the need to memorialize the intent behind these transfers. Having a written and signed acknowledgment from both spouses that transfer of title is occurring solely for asset protection or estate planning purposes will go a long way toward helping the transferor spouse preserve his or her separate property claim to the asset in the event of divorce. Transmutation of property in Georgia will continue to be guided by the decision in the Lerch case. Attorneys and estate planning professionals working with married couples should remember that written and signed acknowledgement of the intent of any transfer or sharing of title for property or assets is a necessary step. Consult a family law attorney to be sure that the acknowledgement and intent are clear, or your clients may end up in court like Mr. and Mrs. Lerch. Michael P. Hodes is of counsel at law firm Boyd Collar Nolen & Tuggle based in Atlanta.