Unenforceable Promissory Notes Not Martial Debt

In the unpublished opinion of Garrett v. Garrett, the Virginia Court of Appeals upheld a trial court decision refusing to classify a number of promissory notes as martial debt where the statutes of limitation to enforce the notes had expired.  Further, the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s refusal to classify the proceeds of the notes, even assuming they were unenforceable, as gifts to husband and thus his separate property where the evidence failed to prove any donative act or donative intent by the holders of the notes, husband’s parents,   The notes were never marked paid. Nor did his parents state an intention to discharge the debt.