Inheritance -Family money?

[ZekeZeke]

Example:
Married 25 years, no mortgage both work.
2 adult children in University still living at home.(both working part time).
Widowed MIL dies. DH inherits £200,000
Is this family pot money?
DH Money?
DH and DW money?
DH ans DC money?

I inherited a large sum a few years ago. It went into our joint pot, and DH and myself worked out what to give the adult kids.

The rest is still in savings.

@healthywino I see the concern, but as there is a record of who brought what to the relationship and if it broke down that is clearly taken into account when dissolving everything. Clearly as long as you use solicitors.....which from my experience a lot of women don't do (in the guise of 'saving money') and things don't get split as they really should. The starting point always should be who contributed what.
Also its not that the funds are split between the parties its that the funds are 'family' money.

Depends on how overall finances work. If you have joint savings, joint financial commitments, then you decide together. Maybe 140 goes in joint savings, 20 is put away for each dc towards Uni or house deposit and you each get 10k to do as you wish. After 25 years of marriage and 2 dc I'd hope you work it out as a couple.

Our inheritance is earmarked for mortgage, kids education and hopefully to help them get on the ladder.

this

It should be used to pay off any mortgage in the first instance.

Family pot to be used for home improvements, cars, pension top-ups, debts, loans, house deposits for DC
Unless you have already had inheritance yourself and did not put it into the family pot

Legally the money is your DH, it was bequeathed to him, not to you both.
If you Divorced the court may or may not included it in any settlement. My inheritance from my father was excluded.

It should be used for whatever the person it’s left to chooses.

My husband works ft and I am a sahm with my own income from property letting.I contribute another 40% on top of my husbands contributions to family pot. In my circumstances that money would be mine alone as I already pay more into the pot than him.

Given most men out earn most women, that would mean men's inheritance is almost always theirs to keep, and women's would not be.

I would be happy for my husband to do as he wishes with any inheritance he may get. We have no mortgage so joint costs are everyday living and school fees. I am only talking about my own situation.

I've learnt something today, I always thought inheritances would be considered as marital assets.
If I ever inherit, I will likely be too old to need much for myself, as the mortgage will be paid off and occupational pension will have kicked in. I will probably do a deed of variation to pass on most of it to my DC. No point in me sitting on it and then paying IHT again.
I realise this is the most first world of first world problems.

How much did you do for her? Did you get on together?
If you entertained her and looked after her then definitely your husband should share with you.

It is the inheritors money IMHO. It’s unexpected money so doesn’t fall within the realms of being family finances as it came from what was a distressing event and is money earned by their family outside of the marriage.

However when I have inherited I have used it to benefit the home as a whole. But by choice.

When my father died, I used my inheritance to pay off the mortgage, bought my mum a new(er) car, bought us a new(er) car spent about £2k on new furniture and the rest went into savings. I spent it for family things, but it was my money.

Recently MIL died and DH inherited a moderate amount - it's his money. He has put it in savings for now but is thinking about using some of it so we can get a new kitchen.

So I guess I'd say it's the beneficiary's money, but I would largely expect it to be used for the benefit of the whole family. And not frittered away. But if eg you were a keen cyclist you might want to buy yourself a new bike!

It's only his money. It was left to him. However, he's married. So when you divorce him, you can claim 50% of it, as a marrital asset. Personally, since you're not acting as team and no shared agreement on how to enrich the family as a whole, I'd jump the gun and go straight to the divorce lawyer with the happy knowledge that 50% of court fees will probably come out of his inheritance.

That’s no true - inheritance is ring fenced and does not form part of a divorce unless there’s an agreement that it’s shared or used for shared assets.

I don't think that is the case in England.

It is. As long as it’s kept separate in the name of the heir an inheritance will be exempt in most divorce settlements.

It is. As long as it’s kept separate in the name of the heir an inheritance will be exempt in most divorce settlements

Absolutely.

Friend lost an awful lot of money when she divorced after 20 years as she kept it in joint savings.

Am amazed that so many on here are of the view that it is completely fine for an inheritance to be spent solely to benefit just one person rather than the family as a whole.

I just can’t imagine being in a situation where say you have a sizeable mortgage which is a substantial burden and someone comes into a large inheritance and spends it all on a hair transplant and a red sports car for example and the rest of the family think that’s a jolly good use of money.

I think it very much depends on how finances are split in the household. In our family, all money is family money and we only have one current account and one saving account. If/when one of us receives an inheritance I would expect we decide together how best to spend/save it.

That works for us though and won’t work for all families.

Depends how money is split in the family. Are you a one pot family or 50/50 family.

I'd personally would think it was DH money. I'd like him to get something he wants, some aside to kids and then rest to benefit family.

DH inherited it. It is his.

I would like to think most people on that situation would use the money to benefit the whole family but it is his to do with as he wishes.