If a divorce nisi was granted 6 years ago (but not yet an absolute) is an inheritance now part of the ‘pot’?

[Scone1nSixtySeconds]

My DSIL was granted a nisi 6 years ago now. Her exh is a manipulative shit who has hidden assets, stolen assets and not yet filled in a full financial disclosure.

Somehow this has not led to any sanctions by the court as yet.

My MIL passed away over Christmas. She had rewritten her will a few years ago cutting my SIL out of the will (but with a section asking my DH to take care of her) so that exh couldn’t claim part of the estate.

Sure enough, he has had an estate agent do a walk past valuation (the neighbours told us).

Perhaps I am hugely naive, but I thought that at this point an inheritance couldn’t be part of the marital pot.

Just for information there is a house with £50k equity, her pension of £12k, his pension of £13k (plus it now appears a hidden pension, half a business inc premises etc), There are 3 dc aged 14 (diagnosed autism) 12 and 11. The eldest refuses to see his father, the youngest go every other weekend for one night. He hasn’t paid child maintenance for a year.

My DSIL has no income - she was caring for her mum and receiving care allowance. DH has paid all her legal bills to date (just over £6k) and is very worried about her. The final court date (allegedly!) is at the end of February.

It sounds as though SIL is not in the will so inheritance will be irrelevant as she doesn't get any. If she does then yes it could be included even after all this time if you are in England. Financial matters are assessed at time of divorcing not parting. That is one reason we rushed it over 7 months of still living together and he would not move out until I had paid him off (I earn more) and all property transfers were complete. That 7 months were not fun but at least we got it done and I got the clean break from him that I wanted.

Did the mother change the will back to leaving to SIL then in the end?

As the finances haven't been settled yet any inheritance will have to be declared and may be taken into consideration. However, in the situation you describe the court will only include the inheritance in the matrimonial pot if there is no other way to achieve a fair settlement.

Where inheritances are involved the general rule is that they will only come in to the equation when considering reasonable needs. Therefore an argument that the inheriting party needs more than half the marital assets because they earn less or have to house children counts for nothing if they have received a large inheritance that can meet all of those needs. Similarly, if the non-inheriting spouse can only have their reasonable needs met by having a share of the inheritance the court may award them a share, but this is to meet their reasonable needs and is not shared in the same way that marital assets will be.

What constitutes reasonable needs will vary according to the facts and the demands of justice and fairness in each case.

Thanks so much for your replies, she is in Northern Ireland but it isn’t likely to be more generous than English law!

The terms of the will are that all property goes to my dh and his other sister with a request to “take care” of my SIL. The cash from the estate almost covers the funeral costs. There is a house worth about £175k.

This is not going to be fun.

(Just to give a flavour of the man, his barrister told the court at the last hearing that he had asked him to lie about his assets. Thats the hidden stuff I mentioned above).

My poor SIL. She had a nasty head injury just before he left her and has never quite been the same.

Would be better if DH kept hold of the money until after the absolute then give SIL her portion 'as a gift' (then her ex can't try to claim it was due to her all along and hidden)

There is no ‘money’ - MIL got caught by a scammer a couple of years ago and lost all her savings. The cash in her bank was from us and will pay for some of the funeral expenses.

DH and his other sister were planning on doing the house up and renting it out, I suppose we will have to wait and see what the judge thinks.

In England and Wales Collaberte is correct and the same would be in reverse if the EX wins the lottery or comes into loads of money / assists it could also be taken into account as it is a two way street.

I cannot advise you on NI law or Scottish Law as they are often very different to England and Wales. (People are often surprised just how different the legal systems are between England/Wales and Scotland)