How to Handle Non-Marital Property in Divorce Mediation
If you get an inheritance while married, there is always the question of whose money it is. The courts can decide one thing, and you can do something else in mediation. As long as both parties agree to it, you can decide to make this marital money instead of just one person’s (non-marital). often a dispute over money in divorce mediation can be resolved by giving it to the children in some way, or by giving to a charity both of you love.
It gets more complicated if the non-marital money has gone in the house, but usually most couples decide to let one or both of you take non-marital money out of a house sale BEFORE the marital money is split. It gets trickier if the house is sold as a loss, but most couples will still say, take non-marital money you brought to the marriage.
The hard part comes if one person uses non-marital money as a down payment or improvement, and then wants the money upon divorce. Most of the time, couples will agree to take money out of a marriage that you had before the marriage, but that can sometimes feel like a betrayal, if it was given as a gift years before. Sometimes this is an issue the courts ultimately decide, instead of a mediation.
Divorce Mediation in such circumstances, however, has the best chance for any sort of relationship post divorce. This is especially important for parents who will co-parent for years after a divorce, and will see each other at kids’ weddings, birthdays, and grandchildren’s births. Divorce mediation works!!