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?

My inheritance (11k so not much by MN standards), went into my savings account. I gave some to DD, paid for a weekend away with DP and put some into my ISA . I still have a bit left which is for emergencies.

ETA Me and DP (of 25 years), have our own accounts and one we share that is just used to pay bills. Having been well and truly shafted by ExH I refuse to share finances with anyone ever again.

That’s false, legally it is the person who inherits it, and legally and generally in a divorce it is ring fenced if it is in recent years.

I am married.

I cannot imagine doing anything other than deciding jointly what to do with any inheritance either of us get. It's inconceivable to me for one partner to have hundreds of thousands of pounds that the other has no say over.

And, of course, we would share it with our children.

In our house it’s always (4 inheritances of various amounts) been shared but on the understanding that if the person inheriting had something they really wanted to do with it, that would be prioritised. We have / will inherit quite a lot and fairly equally so it’s easier to do this - plus have the same general aims which means we tend to be in agreement financially anyway.

Family money, but DH gets "final say" in how it's spent. Certainly not his money to spend selfishly on a Lambo or something when there's still a mortgage to pay.

Family money.

Can see a lot of the people saying it's your own money are looking at under 10k.

DH is looking at over 100k. He isn't sitting on that to spend on his hobbies, it would pay off our mortgage.

I recently received an inheritance and my dh says it’s mine. Obviously I’ve just chucked it in the joint savings, but not everybody shares. I’d say it’s up to your Dh.

Ours would stay separate and be ringfenced, a bit like @ComtesseDeSpair .
He’s been married before and has kids, I haven’t been married and won’t be having kids (although I do have children in my life that I plan to leave my assets to, and will include him and his children too). We will keep our finances separate in the main.
For those of you who are banging on about not keeping things in the family pot, or being selfish, not being proper partners etc - that’s all very well if you’re in a first time nuclear family, but for those of us with more complex blended families, it’s sometimes better not to stick all your eggs in the family pot.

if you are married legally it's a joint asset. i'd find it weird if my hubby inherited and kept it seperate all for himself. very odd

I inherited some money , DH was very much the "your money" mindset .

I saved some
Gave some to DS and DD

Dh accepted a city break holiday which I paid for , he chose

I'm not sure what the Law says though

DH inherited a similar sum when his mum died, it went straight into his pension! However we consider that family money and it benefits both of us. It was better to put it only in his pension for tax relief but there is absolutely no feeling on either of our parts that it is "his" money. As we have now retired, we are using both of our savings, depending on what makes most sense at the time.

Depends where you are. If in Scotland, inheritance is not a matrimonial asset although it will become matrimonial asset if it ‘changes form’ ie if the inheritance money is used to buy a house then it has changed form and will be matrimonial ie house purchased with inheritance will be deemed to be matrimonial.
Not sure of English legal position. Please take legal advice on inheritance in England, I wouldn’t make assumptions.

Definitely DHs money. We have both inherited pots of money over the years, each of us considering it was the person who inherited decision what to do with the money. We have helped DS during his time at university, deposit when he bought his house, and money towards his upcoming wedding. And spent money on the house and holidays, We obviously discuss it, but it’s definitely the person who inherits’ money.

It's his money. How is it family money. It was left to him not all of you. If he wants to share that's different. His choice.

I think it's part of the risk of becoming a SAHM - I find it a bit grabby when during divorce proceedings one spouse starts trying to access their ex's inheritance.

Personally, I see inheritance as a kind of 'bonus' situation (not that a loved one passing is a positive thing) - you don't know what you're going to get (if anything) or when you could receive it, so you need to set up your finances in a way that is not at all reliant on receiving an inheritance.

Inheritances are bound up in grief, so it's solely up to the inheritor as to what they do with it. Yes, it would be nice to share it, but that's not to be expected. You would hope they'd improve the family finances with it or use a large portion of it on their family, but it's up to them as to whether they choose to do that or not. I'd also hope the inheritor gets to spend a portion of their inheritance on something purely for themselves too, rather than being cojoled into sharing all of it.

DHs money. It’s not mine to have. When my MIL died, DH bought himself a few things he’d always wanted, took the family on holiday to Florida for 4 weeks and then invested and saved some for the kids into trust fund.

I didn’t want and don’t want it. The holiday was amazing. Something I don’t think we could have done without the inheritance.

DH & DW money. It would only be the kids if they were specifically named beneficiaries. DH & DW might choose to keep some for the kids though.

It belongs to the person named in the will

Family money here...all money is family money...dh had some we've spent some saved some , topped up pensions and supporting uni ..not likely to get anything from my side but equally would be in the pot...

If you have joint finances then I'd say it's joint money, but I'd let him have somewhat of a lead on what you do with it (unless he's terrible with cash).

Or maybe he can treat himself to something he's always wanted. Not the whole lot of course, but a couple of thousand. New bicycle, new golf clubs, etc?

It’s DH inheritance and he can choose how to split/spend it.

Im likely to inherit from my parents (shared with my DB) but the money would go into a family pot. DH on the other hand will inherit nothing. FIL passed a few years ago and MiL is now in a care home. They were in council housing and had no assets or savings but I’d like to think that if he was to inherit any money it would also go into a family pot

It would be family money, aka shared between spouses, in our house. My parents have given us substantial cash gifts as part of their inheritance tax planning and we have treated those as joint, so would we/will we any actual inheritance.

The only funds we don't treat as fully joint are work bonuses - as they are earned through that individual's performance, 50% goes to family funds and 50% is for the bonusee.

I inherited 25k. I made sure we had exactly the same in savings.

If you are married surely it's a joint asset? I inherited quite a sizeable amount from my parents when they both died (sadly young). It's been used for our family (to buy a house with) and I'd never for one second think of it as just mine.

If we ever got divorced, it would be quite annoying because I brought more to the table financially, so to speak, and DH would get half. But this is how it should be, no? If a man is a high earner and his wife has given up work to raise the children etc, we'd never see that income as the man's money...it's what comes into the household and should be jointly managed...

Legally, it's his own money (not only half his as some have said). In a divorce it could get discussed but half would not automatically go to the spouse. If he intermingles it with family money by paying down the mortgage, supporting the kids or putting in joint savings etc, then it becomes joint for the purposes of divorce.

Being married doesn't mean you literally have nothing of your own. It's perfectly acceptable to be married and still have your own finances.

But, of course, most people would see it as, and use it as, family money.