Divorce and Assets

[orais007]

Can anyone tell me if my STBX of 11years has rights to my retirement, 401, and inheritance from my grandparents?

[Giggles]

Not sure about the inheritance, probably not unless you were left that $$ during the marriage, even then it's still iffy.

My X and I were married for 7 years and I get about 20% of his retirement.  I know with the military, depending on how long you were married will determine how much percentage of the retirement she's entitled to.

[mistoffolees]

>Can anyone tell me if my STBX of 11years has rights to my
>retirement, 401, and inheritance from my grandparents?

Depends entirely on the state.

My state is a community property state. That means that ex gets 50% of everything we accumulated during the marriage. That means 50% of all the retirement, investments, home, savings, frequent flyer miles, furniture, etc (in reality, she got more than 50%, but I allowed that because fighting her deluded views of what was 'fair' would have cost more than the difference). In our case, the majority of our net worth was accumulated during the marriage, so we just split everything. If either of you had a lot of assets before the marriage, it's worth doing the more detailed analysis (figuring out how much was accumulated during the marraige and splitting that).

In my state (and I think the majority of states follow this), there's no point even fighting on this issue because you'll lose. Figure on giving up half of the accumulation in your 401K and retirement over the past 11 years (you get half of hers, of course, too).

Inheritance is probably somewhat different, but it again probably depends on the laws in your state. It probably matters whether you kept the inheritance money separate or mingled it with your joint accounts.

You'll need to see an attorney in your state to sort it all out. If the numbers are significant, you'll also need an accountant familiar with calculating the accumulation (it's much more complicated than taking the current value minus the pre-marriage value since you have to calculate the appreciation of the pre-marriage values and this part of the appreciation is not split).

Good luck.

[mistoffolees]

>Not sure about the inheritance, probably not unless you were
>left that $$ during the marriage, even then it's still iffy.
>
>My X and I were married for 7 years and I get about 20% of his
>retirement.  I know with the military, depending on how long
>you were married will determine how much percentage of the
>retirement she's entitled to.

Military retirement rules are different. In most states, it's 50% of the amount accumulated during the marriage.

Inheritances are different and I think it depends on whether the money was mingled with joint accounts.

[Jade]

>Can anyone tell me if my STBX of 11years has rights to my
>retirement, 401, and inheritance from my grandparents?


In my state, any contributions and earnings to retirement accounts by either party during the marriage is a marital asset and subject to division.  

As for the inheritance from your grandparents, that is iffy.  It depends on if you kept it separate from marital accounts.  A lawyer would better be able to answer that question.  

[Davy]

The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides for an ex-spouse to get 50% of the value of a spouse's retirement benefit amount (RBA) if the marriage lasted 10 or more years whenever the ex-spouse does not remarry.  The spouse still gets 100 % of the RBA.

Another qualifier in addition to not remarrying is that the taxable income had to be less that the other spouse.  I think the income was the total income and not just the income derived during the marriage and could easily be referred to as the "stay-at-home mom" clause.  

[orais007]

>Can anyone tell me if my STBX of 11years has rights to my
>retirement, 401, and inheritance from my grandparents?

I live in CA, in the last year and a half since my STBX and I separated (not through the courts) I have lost 3 grandparents that have left me some money, not a large amount but some.  In my divorce papers there is a request for me to account for all assets and states that I may have misappropriated funds( I haven't, and have no problem proving so).  
Does anyone know what codes I might be looking into and reading up on, if she can do it I think I should too.  I know she has accumulated a decent retirement as well.  Also, if it is required of me to show proof of all monies, do I have to file a special request for her to do the same or will that automatically be expected (I can't see that anything could be expected).
Thank you all

[mistoffolees]

>>Can anyone tell me if my STBX of 11years has rights to my
>>retirement, 401, and inheritance from my grandparents?
>
>I live in CA, in the last year and a half since my STBX and I
>separated (not through the courts) I have lost 3 grandparents
>that have left me some money, not a large amount but some.  In
>my divorce papers there is a request for me to account for all
>assets and states that I may have misappropriated funds( I
>haven't, and have no problem proving so).  
>Does anyone know what codes I might be looking into and
>reading up on, if she can do it I think I should too.  I know
>she has accumulated a decent retirement as well.  Also, if it
>is required of me to show proof of all monies, do I have to
>file a special request for her to do the same or will that
>automatically be expected (I can't see that anything could be
>expected).
>Thank you all


If you're separated, but not divorced, it gets messy. See an attorney.

And make sure you don't mingle the inheritance money with any other accounts. Keep it completely separate.

[Genie]

Retirement and 401K for sure. However, you are also entitled to 1/2 of his as well.  So many times, an agreement is made that you keep yours and he keeps his and all is happy.

What I have read about inheritance is that it is not a marital asset AS LONG AS it is not mingled into a joint bank account if it is money.  So this is something you definitely need to talk to your attorney about and see what it said.