Inheritance and Divorce - advise needed

[Splatt34]

My MIL inherited a large sum (we are guessing at circa £150k) from her sister, probate completed about a month ago.

She and FIL have not got on for years. Now she has the money she wants to move out and live seperately, she has found and ordered a survey on a little house & is very excited at the thought of being out of the emotionally abusive relationship she has been in for many years.

FIL has gone ballistic and is saying they have to divorce. We think this is because he wants half this inheritance. We understand that the bank advised MIL that he has no right to this money, but I'm not sure.

If that were the case she would be entitled to half their current house and their savings, I presume, which would add upto more than half the inheritance IYSWIM.

So my question is, is he legally entitled to half this inheritance money?

Depends if both their needs can be met from within family assets, but normally anything received during a marriage goes into the pot and can't be ring fenced. Not a lawyer , best to get properly checked out.

She is happy to have this money & her pension leaving FIL with marital home, joint savings & his pension (adding to more than inheritance we estimate).

Can't help but feel FIL is just being cruel and vindictive.

As I understand it, if both can have needs met ie housed and income, then need reason to depart from 50/50 split in a court.

It also depends on where they live in the UK. In Scotland inheritances and gifts which have been kept separate from the family finances are not considered matrimonial property.

This is England.

Apparently the bank advised her it's her money but I would have thought it would have to be split 50:50 in a separation which I suspect is what FIL is angling at. Apparently he tried to freeze the accounts, or at least threatened to.

It's all a bit messy not least because we can't trust a word FIL says and MIL has a history of mental health issues and I'm never quite sure what she's up to.

DH & SIL think their father should just leave their mother be to spend her inheritance how she wishes hit I think legally FIL does probably have some sort of legal (though not moral) claim

If his reasonable needs can't be met without the inheritance being shared then it will be shared.
If they can be met without the inheritance the fact that it's come from a source wholly external to the marriage is a relevant factor, and it's helpful to her that it's been received recently.

If that were the case she would be entitled to half their current house and their savings, I presume, which would add upto more than half the inheritance IYSWIM.

I would say she absolutely is entitled to half the current matrimonial assets. Perhaps if this were pointed out to FIL he would shut up.

She could also make a claim on his pension if they divorced.

I've said to DH that I think FIL can claim half and that MIL needs to get her own legal advise ASAP. She seems set on just using the money to buy this house to get away from FIL. This is only going to and very badly me thinks.

Wow that sucks! Obviously totally country dependent because I've always known inheritance to be solely the property of the beneficiary and not considered a marital asset (though I don't live in the UK).

Lawyer up ASAP!

If she is poor with money he could be worried that she'll leave him, spend it all & then come back and make a claim on the matrimonial home & his pension.

In short the answer is not necessarily. The ability to “ring fence” an inheritance will depend upon when it was received, how much it amounted to, what other assets are available for division and what the respective financial needs of the parties are particularly for rehousing.