Every person contemplating divorce or responding to a spouse’s filing has different priorities. For some people, the top concern might be ensuring a fair division of parental rights and responsibilities. They want as much time with their children as possible.
For others, economic factors may be the main issue. People worry about securing financial support or preserving their resources to ensure their comfort after the divorce. Equitable distribution can be unpredictable, especially if spouses litigate instead of filing an uncontested divorce. Spouses typically have to share whatever property they acquire during marriage with a few exceptions. Those with high-value resources may worry about what divorce may mean for their assets.
Does someone who inherited valuable resources have to worry about their spouse claiming part of their inheritance?
Inheritances are often separate property
In some traditional families, parents and grandparents may leave inherited property in the name of both spouses. However, it is much more common for people to leave an inheritance for their family members and not their in-laws.
Provided that only one spouse was a beneficiary, they may be able to protect what they inherited as their separate property. Minnesota recognizes inheritances as the separate property of the heir or beneficiary who received them.
The main concern is whether any commingling occurred. Commingling involves combining separate property with marital resources. In cases involving an inheritance, commingling might look like depositing a financial inheritance into a shared bank account or adding a spouse’s name to the ownership paperwork for inherited property.
Other times, commingling can entail using marital income to maintain inherited resources. Sometimes, unpaid labor provided by the non-beneficiary spouse could lead to claims of commingling because they contributed sweat equity to help improve the value of the inheritance or preserve it.
So long as the spouse who inherited property keeps it separate from marital resources, they can likely protect it from division when they divorce. Some people even choose to sign postnuptial agreements with their spouses while waiting for an inheritance to clarify that they do not intend to share those resources if they ever divorce.
People who learn about Minnesota’s property division laws put themselves in an empowered position as they prepare for divorce. Protecting separate property, like an inheritance, may require strategic planning early in the divorce process.