My father died a little over a year ago.he knew I was planning on getting a divorce so his will stipulated that Any proceeds from the sale of his home and his investments would be in a trust until I divorced. He lived out of state. I have one sibling who has already taken some cash distributions but I have taken nothing . We have an executor who is in charge of everything and she has not given me anything as the property has not been sold nor have all the investments been liquidated . So my question is since my father has already died does it not make a difference in that the divorce courts will know that I'm entitled to something and will consider that or do I protect myself or put myself in a better position legally if I file before there's been any distribution to me and final settlement of the estate? I mont certain nor confidente that he truly protected me as the trust is mentioned in his will for me but not set up and again, he lived out of state. So assuming that his will does not protect me, would filing for divorce BEfORE I take any cash/property make any difference in keeping it separate in the State of CT?
If I understand your post correctly, you are concerned that because something is coming to you by way of your father's trust after you get divorced, does that count as an asset to be considered during the divorce process, or as an asset of the marriage. As of now, you have no legal title to the items that are in the trust, or may be put into the trust. As a result, they are not part of the marital estate. Further, the trust dictates that you cannot receive such assets until you are legally divorced. Therefore, the assets will never be part of the marital estate. This means that the assets of the trust cannot be considered in any divorce settlement agreement because there is no title to them on your part. File sooner, rather than later, but the trustee likely cannot give you any distribution, due to the stipulation that you have to be divorced to receive any of the assets of the trust.
Robert L FiedlerFamily Law AttorneyNew Britain, CT ·
Attorney Anthony give good guidance. But I would suggest the alternative, that is, the expectation has been there and in the event you never divorced, the funds would never transfer. I believe there is that claim that could be made to the trust being in the estate. I would look to reduce or otherwise claim that she had not created or helped invest, etc. the trust and that she is nominally entitled.
