Estate Planning Lawyer
When you are getting a divorce, you may wonder what is going to happen to your property. You can expect that what you own is divided into either marital property or separate property. The marital property is what you and your spouse have gained while you were married. This could be things like property or cash. Separate property, though, is what belongs to just you or just to your spouse. This might be the property that your spouse owned before entering the marriage or an inheritance that you received either before or during the marriage. When you have certain property in a trust, though, you are likely wondering what happens to it when you go through a divorce. An estate planning lawyer, wants you to know that they are here to help make this less confusing for you.
How does a court view a trust?
Unfortunately, there is no one rule or law regarding trusts and divorce. Instead, courts have to take different factors into account when they make their decisions on whether a trust should be divided during a divorce. For example, if it is particularly hard for the beneficiary to remove money from the trust or if they do not have access to the trust until a certain age, a judge may be less likely to view the trust as marital property. In some states, you will have to work with your attorney to prove that what is in your trust is not community property and thus you should be the one to keep it in the divorce.
How can I get more information about the trust?
Simple. We will help you review any original documents relating to the creation of the trust. The more information we know about the trust, the better argument we are able to form about whose property it is.
How can a trust impact other factors in the divorce?
Remember, just because your spouse does not get their hands on your trust during the divorce does not mean that it will not impact your divorce. For example, a court may look at your trust and determine that you should be paying a larger amount of alimony or larger amounts of child support because the money in the trust may be viewed as “income.”
If you are getting a divorce and want to know how your trust will impact what you “owe” in the divorce, please reach out to an attorney. They care about you keeping what is yours during the divorce process and will work hard to ensure that it is fair. Contact a law office now.
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