I am happily married for 14 months. I live in TN. I have a considerable sum of premarital money (that I've had from a prior inheritance) that I would like to put towards a new house. It would be enough to pay for at least half, and maybe almost all of the purchase price of the new house.

Q: Do I understand correctly that my wife's name would HAVE to be on the new deed?

Q: If anything happens to our marriage, would the house be split 50% with my wife because we acquired it after the marriage?

Q: Is there a way to invest my money into the house without making the entire house community property? Can I keep my initial investment separate from the community portion and avoid "commingling"? (bearing in mind that future house payments would have to be from my paycheck which I understand is a community asset.)

BTW, my wife does not know about the money I have, since she is a spendaholic and the money would be gone in months (she blew a lot of money previously and went bankrupt) so I'm trying to protect this money.