The Weekly Scenario: Annuity After a Divorce

Question: My mother passed very recently and I am going to receive a payout from her annuity account. Is my wife entitled to my inheritance even though I have legally filed for divorce?

Answer: Your wife is not entitled to your inheritance because property received by inheritance is not marital property. You should keep the property separate from your wife. If you are annuitizing the account, open a separate bank account to deposit the payments. Until the divorce is final, do not make any additional deposits in that account, other than the annuity payments. If you commingle the non-marital property with marital property, at best it will make it difficult to tell which property is non-marital and which is marital, and at worst, may end up jeopardizing this account when the divorce is finalized.

So bottom line if it is important for you to protect the payments from your soon to be ex-spouse, keep the account in your name alone and do not commingle the funds with other assets until things are final on the divorce side.

As always, if you have any questions or would like to learn more, please let me know. I can be reached at [email protected] or at 301.575.0313.