To think inherited money is not family money

[Viviennemary]

There have been a lot of threads about partners not sharing their earnings when the other person earns less or is a SAHP. And of course money needs to be dealt with in a fair way and shared with the other person having access.

But what about inherited money. I think that belongs totally to the person inheriting. Of course if it was a huge sum you would probably give something to your partner but I certainly wouldn't think it was half theirs.

In our house, inherited money is the same as other money: joint and shared. That’s what we said in our marriage vows so that’s what we do.

Joint here too, just like all other money.

In our house it will be family money. Pil are fairly wealthy, (in comparison to mine) & money will be used for all, but not frittered away

Very odd if you were married to keep it to yourself? I would spend it on my children, put some in savings for them, a holiday ... depends on the amount I suppose. But no I do not agree.

Depends on the nature of your relationship. I would 100 pc share it with my husband. I'd personally see it selfish not to

But depends on your family culture.

Was joint here too.

Well if I inherited (not a given), I would use it to pay off the mortgage and do things on the house. I wouldn't 'give' half to my DH but he and the family pot would massively benefit.

However I would take a lump sum just for myself if funds allowed to do something just for me.

I agree with you. My DH inherited a house when his mum died. That’s his house that he rents out and will sell at a later date, probably when he retires. If we were to divorce I wouldn’t stake a claim on it, it was left to him.

100 per cent joint. There’s no way I’d feel comfortable splashing out on fancy stuff if my husband couldn’t.

In our house it's family money.

OK we spent it on something entirely to do with the person who inherited it.

But if we hadn't inherited it, we have had to find that money somewhere somehow. So it came very much at the right time.

We have joint money, a joint view on expenditure, a joint view on savings and so inheritance is the same.

I inherited a lot of money from my Mum and used it to pay off our (joint) mortgage and then we’ve put the rest into savings. We share all our money - I’m a sahm- and have equal spending money. I was shafted financially very badly in a previous marriage but I still believe in sharing all income, it’s what I would expect from my dh so that’s what I chose to do.

@moonlight1705

Well if I inherited (not a given), I would use it to pay off the mortgage and do things on the house. I wouldn't 'give' half to my DH but he and the family pot would massively benefit.

However I would take a lump sum just for myself if funds allowed to do something just for me.

This would be my approach too.

Well given that I'd want to spend any inheritance on my family be that paying off debts or the mortgage, buying a new home, holiday, redecorating, trips out etc then I would absolutely class it as family money.

Id wonder how crap my marriage would have to be to think of it as all mine and to only offer a meager scrap to my partner. If that was my first thought then it's probably time to reevaluate my marriage.

It would be joint with us. I just can’t imagine keeping a significant amount of money to myself.

If you’re married, it’s family money surely?! I wouldn’t dream of not sharing inheritance with my husband and kids - we are a family unit and we share our lives together. I can’t even think of anything I would spend it on that wouldn’t be improved ten fold by including them anyway!!

My dh inherited a significant amount of money and he paid off our joint mortgage, paid for an extension , but has kept the remaining money in his own account so it isn't completely shared. If I ever inherit money it will be no-where near what he inherited but I would likely pool it.

Family money, in a situation where other monies are family money.

It depends. Imagine a couple with children. They have modest earnings but the husband inherits lots of money from his wealthy family. A few years later they get divorced. I am pretty sure the court would take into account the inherited money when making provision for things like housing etc for the mother and children.

It woud be family money in this family. All money between DH and I is joint money. Inheritance coming directly to our children from another source would be theirs alone, of course - but DH and I don't have separate money.

It’s accumulated assets within marriage. So joint. You divorce it all goes in the pot with your pension, wider savings and property to be divided appropriately. That’s the law

Depends how much we're talking about. I wouldn't expect DH to share £500 with me but we'd be having words if he planned to fritter away six figures worth of "his" cash on frivolities. Large sums I would expect to benefit the household, same as I would with a lottery win.

Definitely would be spent as a family in our house

When we married, we made a vow that, "all that I am I give to you and all that I have I share with you". It's not half theirs - it's all ours.

It does depend. I inherited quite a large sum of money from my parents. I only got married a few years ago (and am not young) - my husband has children, I don't. I have spent quite a lot on 'his' house to bring it up to scratch and liveable but if (when) anything happens to me, I do not want his children to have any of the money. It is quite separate in my own accounts and stocks and shares in my name.

It depends on your overall relationship to be honest. My parents are (relatively) well off and I’ll probably get a reasonable inheritance (god that’s awful even saying that 😕) and I’ll put it in a savings account to be used to benefit us as a family. We don’t have a joint account but share finances proportional to our income. I’m by far the higher earner.

My husband will probably inherit very little if anything from his family.

If your partner is a knobber then I probably wouldn’t share🥴 I’d use it as a running away/rainy day fund.