What Will Happen to My Inheritance if I File for Divorce?

 Posted on April 03, 2019 in High Asset Divorce

Texas residents who file for divorce and who are unable to come to an agreement regarding how their assets will be divided are often concerned about how their inherited assets will be handled by the court during the process of property division. While it is true that for the most part, inheritances that are left to only one spouse during a marriage are considered the separate property of that spouse, this is not always the case. For help determining whether your own inheritance could be divided between you and your soon-to-be former spouse upon divorce, please contact our dedicated high asset divorce legal team today.

What Is Separate Property?

Texas is a community property state, which means that during divorce, all of a couple’s marital property must be divided equally. For this reason, determining which assets qualify as marital and which are considered separate is extremely important to the results of the property division process. Marital property is made up of assets accumulated by the couple during the marriage, regardless of which spouse purchased or acquired them. The term separate property, on the other hand, refers to assets that the parties brought into the marriage.

Important Exceptions

While determining which type of property an asset qualifies as depends largely on when the asset was acquired, there are a few exceptions to this general rule. For instance, inheritances that are left to one party exclusively are usually considered to be separate property, even when the bequest is made during the course of the beneficiary’s marriage. Similarly, assets that would initially qualify as separate property can become marital property if they were commingled with the couple’s marital property during the marriage. This same rule applies to inheritances, so just because a person received an inheritance during his or her marriage, does not automatically mean that it will be considered separate property. Instead, courts will also look at what the inheritor used the bequest for when determining whether it should be divided equally.

If, for instance, the recipient of the inheritance deposited the check into a joint bank account, or used the inherited assets to make purchases that benefited both spouses, he or she would be considered to have commingled that inheritance, thereby turning it from separate property into marital property and necessitating its equitable division. However, it is still possible for Texas residents who commingled an inheritance to hold on to those funds if they can provide sufficient evidence showing that they did not actually intend to share the money. This tends to be a difficult endeavor, as it requires the production of convincing financial documentation.

Round Rock High Asset Divorce Lawyer

If you need help coming to a property settlement with your spouse or need to prove to a court that your inheritance qualifies as separate property, please contact the dedicated Round Rock high asset divorce attorneys at Powers Kerr & Rashidi, PLLC for help. You can reach our legal team by calling 512-610-6199, or by sending us an online message today.

Sources:

https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4185&context=lcp

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.3.htm