{"id":12620,"date":"2023-11-11T16:14:18","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T16:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/finance\/my-soon-to-be-ex-husband-placed-his-money-in-a-trust-before-we-married-and-used-it-to-buy-properties-am-i-entitled-to-any-of-these\/"},"modified":"2023-11-11T16:14:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-11T16:14:19","slug":"my-soon-to-be-ex-husband-placed-his-money-in-a-trust-before-we-married-and-used-it-to-buy-properties-am-i-entitled-to-any-of-these","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12620","title":{"rendered":"My soon-to-be ex-husband placed his money in a trust before we married, and used it to buy properties. Am I entitled to any of these?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dear Moneyist,<\/strong><\/p>\n

My spouse created a revocable trust two months before our marriage without my knowledge. He placed all of his money in the trust fund. We are now getting a divorce. Am I entitled to any of his assets? Or not?<\/p>\n

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He also bought an investment property, supposedly with his trust fund, a month after marriage without my knowledge (his mom co-signed), and bought another investment property with his mom before marriage. I am the only one on the deed of the house we currently live in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Soon-to-be ex-wife<\/p>\n

The Moneyist: <\/strong>My wife wants to pay for her sister\u2019s $25K wedding. My future brother-in-law is blue collar \u2014 and earns more money than me\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at qfottrell@marketwatch.com<\/strong><\/em>. Want to read more? Follow Quentin Fottrell on\u00a0<\/strong>Twitter<\/a> <\/strong>and read more of his columns\u00a0<\/strong>here.<\/p>\n

Dear Soon-to-be ex,<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an equitable-property state, a divorce court is under no obligation to divide property 50\/50, but generally assets brought into the marriage are treated as separate property. In a community-property state, any assets acquired during the marriage are deemed marital property and divided 50\/50. In a community-property state, gifts and inheritance are not regarded as marital property and, therefore, not divided equally in a divorce.<\/p>\n

Your family home is considered community property if it was purchased during the marriage, and\/or if joint funds were used to pay the mortgage or for the upkeep of the property regardless of whose name is on the deed. However, in an equitable-property state, the divorce court may take your husband\u2019s own financial activities and\/or behavior into account when splitting the assets. If you purchased this property prior to the marriage, it will remain yours and yours alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

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\n \u201c<\/span>There are exceptions in which some of your husband\u2019s assets\/funds could be considered community property.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

There are exceptions in which some of your husband\u2019s assets\/funds could be considered community property, Kyle Hafstad, estate planning adviser at\u00a0<\/strong>Exencial Wealth Advisors, told MarketWatch. \u201cIn some community-property states, though the asset\/property itself is considered separate property, the\u00a0income\u00a0from the investments\/assets (including a rental property) are considered community property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the income, deemed community property in this situation, was then used to purchase the investment property during the marriage, then all or part of that investment property may be considered a community property asset,\u201d he adds. \u201cOften the courts will take a spouse\u2019s separate property into account when dividing the community-property assets, meaning that one spouse may end up receiving more than 50% of the community-property assets during a divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Moneyist: <\/strong>\u2018<\/strong>I\u2019m nobody\u2019s ATM\u2019: I\u2019m 27, successful, and always pay for my friends. How do I stop without making them angry?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such commingling is always a risk. According to Long, Murphy & Zung, a law firm in Naples, Fla., \u201cone of the most common reasons exes lay claim to trusts belonging to their spouses is because assets were pulled out during the marriage and commingled with the couple\u2019s finances.\u201d The firm adds, \u201cTrusts work very much like any other asset does in a divorce.\u201d If your husband owned it prior to the marriage, it remains separate property. Florida is an equitable-distribution state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Your husband is subject to the same rules as everyone else. Koons Fuller, a law firm in the Dallas\/Fort Worth area, breaks it down this way: \u201cYou can determine if a house is community property or separate property using the following rules: A house purchased during marriage is presumed to be community property. A house owned before marriage is separate property, as is a house inherited or received as a gift.\u201d Texas is a community-property state.<\/p>\n

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\n \u201c<\/span>Your husband is either a cautious man or, to put a more skeptical spin on it, he believes that marriage is the first step towards divorce.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Your lawyer will help you navigate the finer details in your state and marriage. Generally, secrets do not bode well for a spouse\u2019s confidence in a marriage. Some are worse than others. I have received many letters where one or both spouses write a secret will; one woman said her husband, who had a monthly income of $8,000, sent his mail to a P.O. box to hide his finances. One silver lining here: Your husband\u2019s actions seem less egregious compared to that.<\/p>\n

He is either a very cautious and meticulous man or, to put a more skeptical spin on it, he believes that marriage is the first step towards divorce. Setting up this trust in secret did not bode well for his trust in the marriage itself. Ditto buying an investment property with his mother without telling you. I suggest you were dealing with an unknown quantity from the very beginning, and I\u2019m talking about your husband here, not the total value of his assets.<\/p>\n

The Moneyist:<\/strong> I filed for bankruptcy after rehabbing my husband\u2019s home. Now he wants an open marriage and says I own nothing. I feel trapped and bamboozled<\/p>\n

Hello there, MarketWatchers. Check out\u00a0the Moneyist private Facebook <\/strong><\/em>
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