As an experienced New Jersey Divorce Attorney, clients often ask me about what will happen to inherited money. Inheritances people ask about all the time because these are things that come up. The concept is if you get an inheritance, it’s not part of the marital pot. However, let’s say you inherited a building. Let’s say your Aunt Mary had a building, and it had four tenants in the building, and the tenants were paying rent. The profit of the building at the end of the year was $5, and your income was $20. But when start calculating child support and alimony your income is $25. The item, the asset itself, is not part of the marital pot and won’t it come in, it’s just attached to the income.
Here’s another example. You get $20,000 from Grandma. Then you and your spouse think you need a new couch. You spend some money on that. What you’ve done, is you’ve taken non marital moneys, and brought it into the marital pot, by acquiring the asset together. What I say to my customers when they inherit money, don’t buy a cup of coffee for your spouse or child with that money. If you start doing that, you’re making the classification that the money is marital.
General concept, inheritance doesn’t count toward marital divorce. You have no rights to it. The money it spins off, if it’s an asset, then you could. For example, dividends on a stock. Let’s say you inherited 1,000 stock, and now the dividends are spitting out $5,000 a year. That goes on top of your income for the calculation of child support and alimony.
Are you having issues with inheritance money during your divorce? Contact our experienced New Jersey Divorce Attorney for more information.