Marital Assets

When you get married, presumably what you have in your marital assets is all that you own, but this isn’t always the case. Whenever you receive heritage, when you have a saving account that you started before marriage or any property you had before you got married or it was gifted to you-all of that are separate assets that won’t be split in the event of the divorce.

Danger of Commingling Funds

Commingled Funds are professionally managed funds that are usually offered in retirement accounts (401(k)) that combine assets like bonds and equities from multiple accounts and manage the pool as one account, rather than managing each individual accounts separately.

Divorce is something no one would like to think about, but it is important to know that anything could happen. Commingling with marital assets will hinder with the split of property and finance and might leave you losing extra money that you didn’t have to, since the court will be splitting all the assets in half between spouses, possibly including commingled accounts or property. Your financial advisor should warn you of the risk of commingling in case of a divorce.

Keep your marital assets separate and avoid mixing them. Speak to a legal professional about how to protect those if commingling occurs.

Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreement

Commingling is why prenuptial and postnuptial agreements exist. By creating one, you will have much easier time in case of divorce, and it provides strict guideline for the proceedings.

Not indulging in commingling your or your clients’ finances during marriage can save so much time and money.

What You Could Ask Your Financial Advisor

1. How could combining my premarital savings with marital funds affect how those assets are classified in a divorce?

2. What steps can I take to protect the assets I owned before marriage?

3. What documentation should I keep to prove which funds or assets were originally mine?

4. Could using premarital funds to purchase a jointly owned home affect my ability to recover those contributions?

5. Should I consult a family law attorney before combining accounts or changing ownership of my assets?

Work Cited What is the Commingling of Assets in a Marriage?

Divorce, Healthy! (n.d.). Who is your comfort?: Faith, healing, and hope after divorce and lessons from God through decades of divorce law [Audio podcast episode]. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/episode/1yuSEyQjOQuTpHAO2itlPd