Thanks for the chance to help. I am an attorney with over 12 years experience. Hopefully I can help you with your legal question.

You do have a stake now in the land. What you describe is "co-mingling of assets"

When a person who is married receives a gift, so long as they keep that gift separate, they are able to keep it as "separate property". So in the event of a divorce, the other spouse would have no claim to that property. A good example is a gift of money. If the money is kept in a separate account, then at divorce, the spouse who received the money can keep that money themselves.

On the other hand, if they deposit the money into a joint account, then it can become difficult to determine what is separate and what is marital. Perhaps not impossible. Say the amount was $100K, into an account with $5K in it...two weeks later the account has $90K in it (they bought some stuff). The spouse can still claim a majority of the money as separate...they can fight over the exact amount, and the court has the final say...but over a relatively short period, that is something that can be worked out.

But same question different facts...this time the $100K put into account with $50K already in there...and 5 years later there is $300K in the account...after all that time, the spouse who put the $100K in may have a tough time proving what part of the account is separate.

The same is true with land when you refi. It was separate...then there was a refi, and considerable time passed, it may well be you get 1/2. If not 1/2 then at least a portion.