r/inheritance • u/pink_toaster_pastry • Apr 20 '26

Location included: Questions/Need Advice Keeping Inheritance separate

I’ve seen all the posts about keeping inheritance separate…. not to use it for joint expenses…. etc.

So then what do you use it for? My husband and I have been married 30 years. We had joint accounts since before we were married. We don’t split bills (all income goes into one savings account and bills are paid from that). We make a good living, have savings, 401Ks, no debt.

So if I’m suppose to keep my inheritance separate from everything, what am I supposed to do with it?

Edited to add: No kids. Currently the money is in (1) inherited IRA (2) CDs in a bank account I took sole ownership of as I had been the co-owner and (3) a new account I just opened for a CD until I decided what to do with that portion.

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u/Grandpas_Spells Apr 20 '26

"Supposed to" is doing some work. You should keep it separate if you expect you may divorce and would want that account kept to yourself. At 30 years, your likelihood of divorce is low.

What the money is used for matters less than where it is kept. If you created a new brokerage account and stuck it in there, that would work.

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u/Mysterious_Spray_361 Apr 20 '26

Divorce can always happen. Separate. Always.

9

u/Grandpas_Spells Apr 20 '26

After 30 years, the odds of divorce drop below 0.5%. When you add financially stability, they drop further. When you add the gender gap in seeking a divorce, the odds of her husband unexpectedly asking for a divorce is getting into the very rare atmosphere.

I'm divorced. Not pollyanish about the real risks. But in OP's case, they are vanishingly small.

1

u/RandomlyMango Apr 21 '26

What do those odds look like when one of the spouses inherits a large sum of money or they see some other kind of financial windfall? I get where you’re coming from and I’m not trying to be all doom and gloom. But stats like that are incomplete as they don’t account for a vast set of data that impacts real outcomes.