Is my inheritance now half my husbands?

[elfd]

I inherited 40k from my mother when she died, I spent half on home improvements etc, the other 20k is sitting in an account. I feel like it's my rainy day money, possibly to one day help start afresh. Things with DH aren't great and every so often he mentions the 20k. We have been married almost 15 years. If we divorce is he entitled to any of the inheritance?

No, your inheritance is yours. Whilst you are married and it's in your name, it's yours to spend.

If divorcing the courts will let you keep your inheritance but may award him a bigger portion of assets to offset this.

So technically you get to keep it. Financially you may not leave the relationship with any extra funds.

Spend it and enjoy it. Or do what I did (with the savings I'd put aside for my children) and remove it as cash over a year and stash it for another twelve months. You don't then have to legally declare it on the financial forms. It just disappears.

It is a grey area. The best way of protecting it is to ringfence it (ie keep it in your name, completely separate from other assets).
The £20k that has already been mixed with joint assets may well be shared, depending on how long ago it was mixed.

What a horrible man, to have his eye on your mum's money.

PS. My advice is based on the law in England/Wales.
PPs saying it will definitely be shared are wrong (I'm a divorce lawyer).

He mentions it, but do you think he'd demand half of it in a divorce? (Regardless of how likely to be awarded it).

Could you say when you originally inherited the 40K you gave half to DH who subsequently chose to fritter it away on home improvements? 😉

Well that’s unhelpful nonsense. My divorce cost £2K. Could have been less but I chose to do parts through a solicitor that I could have done myself. That includes money that didn’t go to a solicitor but was the actual court fee for divorce.

Okaaay, your divorce. I’ve worked with many divorcees and £200k bills are not uncommon.

IF you don’t argue, yes cheap. Start a fight over £20k? Good luck.

I’d give a bit more context to your helpful nonsense.

Jewellery over a certain value has to be declared during divorce financial disclosure and is included in the asset calculation pre-division. That’s not a way to ring fence the money.

@NoGoingBacktoThat I would suggest that you are working with people in an asset value minority. Most people’s divorces, even contested, do not end up at anywhere near £200K solicitor fees🤣

So I do agree that £20K can get swallowed up in a fight, but I think you’re wrong - and unhelpful - to say to OP that it will all go on solicitors. Most people who divorce have no idea of the cost (why would they?) and scare stories like that don’t help.

I wasn't suggesting ring fencing of trying to hide it.
I was simply giving OP a suggestion of something nice to purchase to remember her mum by.
But... if you say there is an item limit- perhaps OP should buy several items under the limit so thanks for the idea 💡 😀

www.mediateuk.co.uk/how-much-does-a-divorce-cost-uk/

Average of a divorce according to one source: £14.5K.
Given that you say there are so many £200K costs out there, that will skewed upwards so we’ll under both the £14.5K and OP’s £20K.

Yep and her DH costs, which could well come out of the assets too.

on the basis that my high costs skew things, so do your low ones. That’s averages for you.

I’m just warning. If you argue about money, you’ll spend a lot of it.

I agree! Spend it on a great holiday or some experiences that can't be up for grabs by him!

Or make like some of the women and withdraw it and stash behind the cutlery drawer/in lampshades.. 😅

Of course he is.

I know someone who inherited from an aunt enough to buy a house, he then got married, then separated and the ex got half.

@infohere - place marking for your brilliant links - thank you for posting these

Sorry OP don’t know anything about the legalities involved but could you buy yourself some very expensive jewellery (diamonds, gold) that will hold its value? Explain it to your husband now as a memory piece from your mum, but you could sell on if need cash in future?
Assuming here that it would then count as a personal item of yours rather than joint marital property at time of divorce…?

This may have changed but when I got divorced anything valued at more than £500 was considered an asset, so potentially watches and jewellery as well as cars.

Also, hiding money would get you into trouble, you have to declare all assets when you submit the consent order to the court and lying on it is the same as lying in court.