Ohio man keeps premarital home as court upholds $20,000 legal-fee award against ex-wife

An Ohio man has been allowed to keep sole ownership of a house he bought six years before getting married. State appeals judges rejected his former wife's claim that paying the mortgage with shared money during their marriage had turned the house into marital property. The ruling was issued on 6 November 2026 by the Ohio Court of Appeals for the First District.

It upheld a Hamilton County Domestic Relations Court decision in the divorce case involving Stephen P. Ellison and Sherrun L. Ellison.

The three-judge appeals panel also upheld an order requiring the former wife to pay $20,000 towards her ex-husband's legal costs. The judges said her actions had unnecessarily dragged out the court case and increased the time needed to resolve it. The decision supports existing Ohio property laws on homes bought before marriage, tracking the source of mortgage payments and the rules for awarding legal fees in divorce cases.Financial tracing of premarital real estateThe property dispute involved a house on Elbrook Avenue, which Stephen Ellison bought in 2012.