How to Keep Inheritance Separate

[Anonymous]

You can't make it non martial property the only way to do that now is have your spouse sign an agreement post nup. But as of right now the act of inheritance to you and the absents of a prenup already make this marital property.

[Anonymous]

Those two do not know what they are talking about. That is YOUR MONEY. and is not automatically marital property unless the decedent left it to both of you, you both worked on the investments of that money, or you intentionally or unintentionally commingled those funds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Open up a new Vanguard account in your name only, put your kids as the beneficiaries. Don't comingle the funds.

...and pay for your husband's vasectomy, ensuring your children won't have to compete with any half-siblings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not a lawyer but I don’t think you should rely on where you put the account. This is estate planning. What matters is what you write in your will/revocable trust or trust agreement.

This is 100% not true!! If she puts it in a joint account with her DH, it will absolutely be 1/2 his in the event of a divorce. She could add her kids as beneficiaries, but that's not a great idea either if they are minors or are young and just waste it.

This! Do not commingle those funds with any of your other accounts. It needs its own account. Even if you already have your own account, this one needs another separate account because your other account is probably marital property unless it also was an inheritance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Open up a new Vanguard account in your name only, put your kids as the beneficiaries. Don't comingle the funds.

...and pay for your husband's vasectomy, ensuring your children won't have to compete with any half-siblings.

My girl!

[Anonymous]

1. Put into 529s that a trusted family member owns making your kids the benefactor. Then they can’t be persuaded to withdraw and give to dh, another potential stepmother, or step siblings. If not used for education it can be rolled into Ira or used for other qualifying purpose.

2. Create a trust, and name a custodian who you know will not be persuaded to go against your wishes.
To protect a child's money, the most effective method is to place the assets in a trust managed by a neutral, third-party trustee
. This prevents the parents from having direct access to or control over the funds. Other strategies include structuring the financial guardianship in a will and using specific account types, especially when the child is a minor. 
Using a trust
A trust is a legal arrangement where a trustee holds and manages assets for the benefit of a beneficiary, in this case, the child. 
* Neutral trustee: The trust can be managed by an independent third party, such as a professional fiduciary, a trust company, or a trusted family member who is not the parent. The trustee follows your specific instructions for how and when the money can be used.
* Lifetime asset protection trust: This type of trust holds the child's inheritance in a protective trust for their lifetime. It can protect the money from a parent's legal troubles, bankruptcy, or misuse.
* Discretionary trust: This trust gives the trustee complete control over how the assets are distributed to the beneficiary. The trustee can release funds for specific purposes, like education or medical care, without giving the parent unrestricted access.
* Testamentary trust: A testamentary trust is created through a will and only comes into existence upon your death. It allows you to specify the terms for managing assets for your child and name a specific trustee. 

[Anonymous]

How old are your kids? I know no one on here likes Trump, but if your kids are under 18, you can set up Trump accounts for each of them on July 4 and contribute $5k per year. They are the equivalent of a Roth IRA (tax-free growth) without a work requirement. Do that until they are 18. It's a small amount of money, but more than zero. Those are considered "completed gifts" and are therefore shielded from divorce and third-party estate claims.

For the rest, I'd open a separate brokerage account at a different provider than your marital accounts (so if you use Fidelity, switch to Vanguard). Invest it in tax-efficient funds (I personally like VTI and BRK.B), but pay any taxes you owe from the separate funds and keep a record. Don't spend any of the money unless there is a true emergency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to keep this separate from marital assets so that it will go to my parent's grandchildren (my children with my spouse), NOT to any potential future spouse of my partner or children of my partner and a future spouse, should I die and my partner remarries and has future children.

Not wanting the assets to go to the partner's step children seems reasonable, but not wanting the money to go to your partner's future children seems pretty awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids? I know no one on here likes Trump, but if your kids are under 18, you can set up Trump accounts for each of them on July 4 and contribute $5k per year. They are the equivalent of a Roth IRA (tax-free growth) without a work requirement. Do that until they are 18. It's a small amount of money, but more than zero. Those are considered "completed gifts" and are therefore shielded from divorce and third-party estate claims.

For the rest, I'd open a separate brokerage account at a different provider than your marital accounts (so if you use Fidelity, switch to Vanguard). Invest it in tax-efficient funds (I personally like VTI and BRK.B), but pay any taxes you owe from the separate funds and keep a record. Don't spend any of the money unless there is a true emergency.

These trump accounts are a bad investment, there are much better ways to invest, and they can be persuaded to hand over the money to a stepmother or step sibling at age 18. Nope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to keep this separate from marital assets so that it will go to my parent's grandchildren (my children with my spouse), NOT to any potential future spouse of my partner or children of my partner and a future spouse, should I die and my partner remarries and has future children.

Not wanting the assets to go to the partner's step children seems reasonable, but not wanting the money to go to your partner's future children seems pretty awful.

No mother wants her parents' assets to go to her partner's future children and dilute what is available to her own children. No parent wants their legacy to go to their children's spouses' future children rather than their grandchildren.

It sounds like you are approaching this from the perspective of the poorer spouse rather than that of a donor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those two do not know what they are talking about. That is YOUR MONEY. and is not automatically marital property unless the decedent left it to both of you, you both worked on the investments of that money, or you intentionally or unintentionally commingled those funds

Depends on the state. Some states the married couple can have separate assets, and some they cannot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids? I know no one on here likes Trump, but if your kids are under 18, you can set up Trump accounts for each of them on July 4 and contribute $5k per year. They are the equivalent of a Roth IRA (tax-free growth) without a work requirement. Do that until they are 18. It's a small amount of money, but more than zero. Those are considered "completed gifts" and are therefore shielded from divorce and third-party estate claims.

For the rest, I'd open a separate brokerage account at a different provider than your marital accounts (so if you use Fidelity, switch to Vanguard). Invest it in tax-efficient funds (I personally like VTI and BRK.B), but pay any taxes you owe from the separate funds and keep a record. Don't spend any of the money unless there is a true emergency.

These trump accounts are a bad investment, there are much better ways to invest, and they can be persuaded to hand over the money to a stepmother or step sibling at age 18. Nope.

Why are they a bad investment? They are the equivalent of a Roth IRA, and the investment options are the same as those available in a brokerage account. The issue of giving kids access to money at 18 is real, though. I'm not convinced that it's a good thing. It might be better off in a more controlled trust with a trusted Trustee until they are 30ish.

[Anonymous]

is this person even married?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't make it non martial property the only way to do that now is have your spouse sign an agreement post nup. But as of right now the act of inheritance to you and the absents of a prenup already make this marital property.

This is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those two do not know what they are talking about. That is YOUR MONEY. and is not automatically marital property unless the decedent left it to both of you, you both worked on the investments of that money, or you intentionally or unintentionally commingled those funds

Depends on the state. Some states the married couple can have separate assets, and some they cannot

I'm not aware of any state that does not recognize a properly protected inheritance as marital property. The only way this could go wrong is if the money gets comingled - like deposited into a joint account, or the couple uses marital funds to pay taxes on income from the separate account.