You probably know going into a divorce in Arizona that you are not going to walk away with ownership of all the assets you had as a married couple. Property division is a main part of any divorce proceeding. It helps to ensure you both end up with a fair amount of assets accumulated during the marriage.
Generally, the court will consider all your assets and break them down into those you both have ownership rights to under the law. However, if you received an inheritance at some point in your marriage, will the court allow you to have full ownership of it or will the court split it like any other asset? There are a few things you need to know about Arizona law to help you figure out if your inheritance is at risk during a divorce.
Property division laws
Arizona uses community property laws, which means that anything you acquired during your marriage is joint property. In theory, this would mean that any inheritance you get during the marriage becomes property to split during a divorce, but there is an exception here.
Keeping it separate
In general, anything you inherit during your marriage is kept as separate property. There is a chance, though, that it could become marital property. If, for example, you inherit money and you put that money into a joint bank account, then it becomes shared property that the court will split in the divorce.
The best advice is that you should treat any inheritance you receive during your marriage carefully. You cannot allow it to become joint property that the court would then have to divide. As long as you keep it separate, you can use inheritance laws to keep the property in your divorce and not have to worry about the court lumping it in with all your other assets during property division.
Contact our Chandler divorce attorneys today for a consultation.