I sold my family’s land and bought a house for my spouse and I, now we are getting divorced. Since it would’ve been my inheritance money, that means it’s mine, right?
Maybe. Yes, that’s a lawyer answer but the truth is that it’s pretty clear in North Carolina whose property it is. The devil is in the details and you may not have even thought twice about it when you signed the deed for your new home together.
In a divorce action, personal property is divided into two categories – Separate and Marital. Separate property in North Carolina is defined as property acquired before marriage or inherited property or income from separate property.
But what about property that you bought when you sold your inherited property? Is that separate property still?
Those phrases may independently mean nothing to you now but they will if you get a divorce. The law in North Carolina says that we can presume that you meant to gift your spouse the inherited property if you deed it into Husband and Wife, as Tenants by the Entirety. That is still open to argument of course but once you’ve done entitled it that way, it will be your burden to show by clear and convincing evidence that you didn’t mean for it to be a gift to your spouse.
In the State of North Carolina, it is statutory (that means its actually in the books) that “Property acquired in exchange for separate property shall remain separate property regardless of whether the title is in the name of the husband or wife or both and shall not be considered to be marital property unless a contrary intention is expressly stated.” So if you place your spouse on your deed for the new property that you bought from the money you got from selling your grandfather’s land and you state that you own it as “tenancy by the entirety” – it’s now part of your divorce. If you add language to the deed and your spouse signs it, that says that the purchase was based on the sale of separate inherited property by one spouse and that this is not considered to be a gift to the other spouse then it may stand a chance. Regardless, once you include the spouse on the title, you can expect some action on it during the divorce or equitable distribution case.
Make sure that your attorney knows both family law and real estate law to prevent real problems down the road.
<a href=”https://www.vecteezy.com/free-photos/inheritance”>Inheritance Stock photos by Vecteezy</a>
