Inherited cash

[divorceadviceneeded]

Can someone give me advice on what a judge would say if one party to the divorce was asking for £250k of money inherited during the 25+ years of marriage to be returned. When inherited the money was not ring fenced in any way. Inherited 12 years ago.

With or without the inheritance there is enough in the pot for each party to be housed sufficiently post divorce. Though the lower earner will have less disposable income going forward, obviously.

This is in Scotland.

The only thing I know is that I was told an inheritance can be ring fenced but it needed to have been kept separate.

I had a smallish inheritance which I received about 8 years before the end of a long marriage. It went straight into a savings account in my name. I lent about half of it to a family member who paid it back to this account. I was told by my solicitor that this could possibly be ringfenced.

I am in UK.

U.K. is not the same as Scotland. Scotland d and England divorce laws are different

I believe in Scotland it’s usual that inheritance received does not form part of the matrimonial pot. Have you taken legal
advice as they’d quickly be able to tell you

If it’s spent on matrimonial assets in the past, it’s gone. It’s the matrimonial assets now that are split. You can go back and claim past amounts you have contributed. If it’s been kept separately it may be a different story.

Yes. Legal advice has been given on both sides.

The argument being put forward is the 'source of funds' so that even though the money was used in doing up the house and reducing the mortgage, it's identifiable and therefore (they hope) returnable to them.

This isn’t quite the same but my fil is going through a divorce (in Scotland) and they’re both retired- he brought basically all of the money. Even then, his wife is entitled to a share of all assets that were used for any purpose in the marriage- he bought 2 houses outright, did work on them etc.
Rhe only thing ‘protected’ are shares that he bought 25 years ago and has never touched/looked at since. Everything else is classed as marital, regardless of source. It may mean she doesn’t get exactly half, but that’s the starting point.

So I’d say that it isn’t ringfenced, and, as it was used on your house, it is to be included in the marital assets.

So what is the advice from your solicitor (s)?

@millymollymoomoo, I'll be checking this. Aside from listing all assets, including this inheritance, not much communication has gone either way, solicitor to solicitor.

There's also the issue of one party not being so advanced in their career/future earnings because of child rearing, mutually agreed at the time. But that's a whole other thing..... seems to cause split view on MN!