How Does Inherited Property Affect Your Divorce Case

When you are living paycheck to paycheck, inheriting money from a deceased relative sounds like a dream come true, since it will bring relief to at least some of your financial problems. In reality, it is less glamorous, and it often creates as many problems as it solves. Specifically, it might upset the routine that you and your spouse have established regarding spending and financial goals. Legally, inherited wealth counts as separate property, and when one spouse acquires a substantial amount of separate property during the marriage, this can expose rifts in the couple’s relationship. One couple might want to save the inherited money, while the other might want to spend it on home renovations. If one spouse inherited a house, then the spouse who inherited it might want to rent it out until the couple retires, even though this means frequent interstate travel, constant text messages from tenants, and both spouses bearing the cost of repairs to the rental property, while the other spouse might want to sell the house and invest the money. Even if you and your spouse are on the same page about the inherited property during your marriage, it can make things more complicated if you get divorced, or conversely, it can make things simpler. If you are getting a divorce after one spouse inherited property from a deceased family member, contact a Boca Raton divorce lawyer.

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes Probate, Then Comes Divorce

Ordinarily, any property that the couple obtains during the marriage is marital property. Therefore, your employment income legally belongs to both spouses, and so does your spouse’s employment income. One exception to this is property designated as separate in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. Another exception is money that one spouse received as compensation for a personal injury or workers’ compensation claim. The last is property that one spouse received through inheritance.

Inherited wealth can be complicated in divorce, though. Since it is not marital property, it is not subject to division in divorce, but it counts as the separate property of one spouse, so it can affect alimony and child support awards. Therefore, the fact that your spouse inherited money from her parents might mean that you do not have to pay her alimony, whereas you would have had to pay if you had divorced while your in-laws were still alive.

The worst-case scenario is that the spouses disagree about whether the inherited property is separate or marital. You can persuade the court that the inherited property is marital if the recipient spouse used the property for the benefit of both spouses, such as by depositing it in a marital bank account or spending it on a house where both spouses lived.

Contact Schwartz | White About Divorce After One Spouse Gets a Windfall

A South Florida family law attorney can help you if inheriting property from a family member brought out the worst in your spouse.  Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12762496786682482938&q=divorce+palm+beach&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2013&as_yhi=2023