Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

inheritence

In Virginia an inheritence is not considered joint property. It belongs to the person that inherited it.

My husband and I purchased a new home 4 yrs. ago. In order to purchase the home, I cashed in $180,000.00 from an inheritence I received. Since I put my inheritence into a jointly owned home, will I still be able to declare my inheritence as mine, and receive that investment back before we divide the equity the house has gained? I ask this because we are considering a divorce. We have been married a total of 37 yrs. We separated for two years and during that two years I received my inheritence. My husband is 100% total & perm. disbled due to PTSD. He receives VA disability and S.S. disability. In 2001 I was diagnosed as being in a ''severe disabling depression''. Neither of us work. Do those facts make any difference as to my being able to receive my total investment back before the equity is divided?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Kris


Asked on 1/12/07, 12:17 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: inheritence

You should endeavor to gather and preserve all records which support your assertions regarding your inheritance and its subsequent comingling with the marital property in the form of the new home which you purchased jointly with your husband some four years ago. Exactly what you might receive back in the event of a divorce would be impossible to predict

at this juncture since it would depend at least in some measure as to how the marital property is divided and apportioned between the parties, i.e, through negotiations and eventual agreement or by way of what's called equitable distribution(whereby the court decides because the parties cannot come to an agreement).

Either way, the more detailed and complete your records are, the greater your chances are of achieving an outcome which supports your stated objective of getting back at least the principal amount of your inheritance which you invested in marital property in the unhappy event that your marriage dissolves.

Read more
Answered on 1/12/07, 9:32 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Family Law, Divorce, Child Custody and Adoption questions and answers in Virginia