QLD Separation inheritance

[kbastings]

My husband and I entered into our marriage 15 years ago. We agree that my husband entered the marriage with separate property, which was given to him as an inheritance before our marriage. Now that we are discussing separation and have agreed to divide our accumulated assets equally excluding his original separate property, my husband says he has the right to add Consumer Price Index onto the original amount of separate property. Please could you let me know if this is true?

 

[Atticus]

Now that we are discussing separation and have agreed to divide our accumulated assets equally excluding his original separate property

So you have agreed that he retains his inheritance of 15 years ago?
Have you been living in it?
If not has your marriage been benefiting from income (rental for example)?

 

[kbastings]

So you have agreed that he retains his inheritance of 15 years ago?
Have you been living in it?
If not has your marriage been benefiting from income (rental for example)?

Yes I agreed. My apologies, when I said property I meant relationship property not real estate property. So we agreed that his inheritance money received before our marriage would remain his.

 

[Atticus]

Okay, thanks for clarification. Yes that makes a difference.

So generally, initial contributions by each party are more or less absorbed into joint marital assets. The longer the relationship, the less weight is given to a party seeking to have their initial contribution quarantined from the joint asset pool for division.

That said, IF the inheritance was cash & IF that cash has been kept separate from joint savings over the 15 years & hasn't contributed to growth of the marital assets,ie, shares or the like for example, then it's easily identifiable & if both parties agree, it can be left out of the pool for division ... If it was cash or shares, then it should have accumulated some growth over 15 years. Generally that growth would be considered joint, ie, should be divided 50/50. Again though, if you agree that the growth should be quarantined from the pool for division, all good.

I think your husband is pushing his luck asking that you take into account CPI in his favour as well .... Maybe he should run that by a solicitor for a severe reality check.

One other point ... in considering property settlement, the court takes into account, among other things, the future needs of each party based on current circumstances, & each parties future earning capacity & potential .... If the inheritance being retained is large, the court would generally see that as a financial resource available for the future for that party that the other doe's not have. Depending on those other factors mentioned, that can have the affect of justifying an adjustment in the division in favour of the other.

 

[kbastings]

You make very valid points, thank you. It makes sense CPI falls under accrued assets that should be divided equally.

 

[Dpj]

If he plays handball, and the inheritance property is of monetary value, you could always say 'I'm going to seek legal advice about the inheritance' just to get him to ease up.