How to Prove Intention to Keep Non-Marital Assets Separate from Marital Assets ?

In In re Marriage of Gattone, 317 Ill. App. 3d 346, 739 N.E.2d 998, 251 Ill. Dec. 65 (2000), all of the funds used to purchase a house in joint tenancy came from the husband's non-marital assets. The court noted that the size of the purported gift in relation to the husband's entire estate was only a single factor that does not, standing alone, determine whether property is marital or non-marital. Gattone, 313 Ill. App. 3d at 353. The husband used an unacceptable method of calculating his estate. Finding the presumption of a gift was not rebutted, the court found no facts in the record that demonstrated the husband's intent to keep his non-marital assets separate from marital assets. That is, "There are steps [the husband] could have taken to make sure his non-marital assets retained their distinct identity, if that was his desire." Gattone, 313 Ill. App. 3d at 354.