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property was granted to decedent and his father as joint tenants,
and petitioner was not a grantee. Decedent paid nothing towards
the purchase price of the property, which suggests that he
received his interest in the property as a gift from his father.
Petitioner testified that she and decedent worked at the New
Mexico ranch for five or six summers after the ranch was acquired
by decedent and his father. She testified that she did not
consider that work as liquidating a debt to decedent’s father for
decedent’s interest in the property. She testified that
”probably nothing” would have happened if she and decedent had
not worked at the property. Petitioner has failed to prove that
decedent’s father did not make a gift to decedent (and to
decedent alone) of decedent’s interest in the New Mexico ranch.
Section 25-211 of Arizona Revised Statutes, Annotated, provides:
“All property acquired by either husband or wife during the
marriage, except that which is acquired by gift, devise or
descent, is the community property of the husband and wife.”
Implicitly, property acquired by gift to one spouse alone is the
separate property of that spouse. Decedent’s interest in the New
Mexico property was acquired by gift to decedent and, for that
reason, was not, upon its acquisition, community property.
D. Decedent did not Change the Character of his
Interest in the New Mexico Property or any of the
Successor Properties to Community Property
Decedent’s ownership of the Bard property can, for the most
part, be traced through a series of exchanges to his ownership of
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