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Is a wife entitled to money her husband inherited from his mother if he didn't contribute to the household expenses ?
Anonymous1 views5 answers
Wife is delaying a divorce until husband inherits money from the sale of his mother's house with the intention that she can claim he owes her money for failing to pay half of the household expenses during the course of the marriage.
Generally speaking, inheritance is considered one's separate property, so long as the will does not provide for the distribute to go to each. Husband is well-advised to deposit the funds into a segregated account. Moreover, as a general rule, expenses paid - or not paid - during the marriage is not a claim which may be raised in the divorce case (with the proviso if there's a major disparity of income, alimony/maintenance may be a claim). Schedule a consult with a White Plains Divorce Attorney for a full assessment.
As a general rule inherited money is separate property and not subject to equitable distribution. Regarding not paying for carrying costs of the marriage, I would need more information. Had he always been paying for half of the expenses and then stopped? Was the normal routine of the marriage that the wife paid the carrying costs? If the wife had been paying the carrying costs of the marriage it will be a hard argument to make saying that the husband now owes half of the expenses. Good luck.
As other attorneys have stated, inheritance monies are separate property. Additionally, you usually cannot get reimbursed for marital expenses already paid that arose prior to the divorce being started. There is no presumption that each spouse must pay half of the expenses for many different reasons. Otherwise, clients would claim that they paid more bills for the last 10 years than the other spouse and cases would be even more complicated.
