Legal Question in Family Law in Rhode Island

Re: Gift money

If the money is being gifted to you alone, you need not share it with your spouse and it generally will not be deemed joint property unless you deposit it in to a joint account.

You should, therefore, keep the money segregated in a separate account - do not deposit the gift to a joint account with your spouse's name on it or your spouse may argue that it is his, too.

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Re: Gift money

You do not reference whether you are in a divorce or possibly considering a divorce or whether you have received the money yet or not so I will give you the advice based upon the idea that your mother has not given the money to you yet but that she is GIVING it to you as you stated it. If the money is clearly a gift of money from your mother without any expectation of return or payback of that money and it is made clear (expressed outwardly) by your mother that the money she is giving to you is solely a gift to you and not to you and your husband, then you have no legal obligation to share the money 50/50 with your husband.

With that in mind, you should keep that gift of monies "completely and totally" separate from any monies, assets or debts you have with your husband (i.e. don't put it in a joint bank account, don't use any of it to pay family bills, don't lend any of it to your husband) otherwise, upon a divorce proceeding if that were ever to occur then your gift might be considered co-mingled into the marriage and a judge might consider it a marital asset subject to division between you and your husband by the court.

The greatest mistake that someone receiving a monetary gift from a family member in this manner can make is to take the money, put it into a separate account in their own name, and then mistakenly add funds from their income, their husband's income or even money from a garage sale into that separate account. All of those things may be considered as "marital income" by the court.

Once anything marital (debts or assets) is connected with your gift monies then a family court judge may find that your gift is a marital asset because you mixed it with a marital asset(s) or debt(s). Once it has been "mixed". This is known as the principle of co-mingling, you cannot undo it.

It is very important to note that my examples of marital income or debts above that might constitute co-mingling are only examples. There are many ways to co-mingle a gift into a marital asset.

If you are at all concerned about the loss of your gift in a divorce proceeding, it is my opinion that you should always consult a full-time family law practitioner before doing anything with your gift money to see if it might be considered co-mingling.

My best to you and I hope I have sufficiently answered your question.

Disclaimer: Attorney Pearsall has provided this answer as an informational service only. This answer does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney/client relationship between you and Attorney Pearsall. You should not act on any information without an in-person consultation with a licensed practitioner who has the opportunity to question you about your particular circumstances and/or situation.