What if I receive an inheritance and am married: is my spouse entitled to the money and assets?

What if I receive an inheritance and am married: is my spouse entitled to the money and assets?

When you receive an inheritance, not everything is ‘single and simple’, in order to enjoy the inherited assets you have to go through a series of procedures and legal obstacles that are not always simple. One of the frequently asked questions that people ask when they receive an inheritance is What rights does my spouse have over the inheritance? and if I have to share it. The answer is clear: you do not have to share the inheritance with your spouse.

Article 1346 of the Civil Code has the answer, making it clear that when you receive a donation, for example, from your parents or grandparents, it is It is not part of the common property of the marriageeven if you are married in community property. This means that money, real estate, or any other inherited assets are considered private propertythat is, they belong only to you. In this case, your only responsibility will be to pay the inheritance tax to be able to enjoy them.

Why inheritance is a private asset

It is less common to see a marriage that signs the separation of assets, a regime regulated by article 1435 of the Civil Code, in which each spouse maintains ownership of the assets acquired before and during the marriage. The most normal thing is to see couples in a community regime, where the assets acquired during the marriage belong to both spouses, but there are clear exceptions, and inheritance is one of them.

The law establishes that assets inherited or donated to one of the spouses are private property. Therefore, everything you inherit, whether money, real estate, stocks or other types of assets, belongs solely to you and you do not have to share it.

When the inheritance becomes part of the common property

There are exceptions in which a private asset, such as an inheritance received, can become part of the couple’s marital assets. This is stated in article 1320 of the Civil Code, which tells us that, although the inheritance is a private asset, if it is ultimately used for the family home there may be implications for its use and enjoyment by the other spouse.

Another exception that can also occur is when one of the two spouses dies. In this case, the one that lasts may have usufruct rights on said assets, depending on the will signed before death. That is, there is the possibility that the deceased person could have signed a previous will in which the person who remains alive from the marriage has the usufruct of all or part of the inherited assets. This right allows you to use and enjoy the assets, even though the property continues to belong to the heir.

In these cases, it is very important to have access to all the documentation that proves the origin of the money and how it has been used, when the purpose is to protect its private nature and that it remains independent of the common property of the marriage.

What happens if you get divorced

In case of divorce, if you are under a regime of separation of assetsthe inheritance will not be an element of dispute, since everything that is yours is considered independent, which guarantees that the inheritance will remain exclusively yours, no matter how you have used it.

However, if you are in a community regime and have used the inherited assets together with the couple’s assets, the situation may be more difficult. For situations like this, it is best to have the help of a specialized advisor or lawyer if you want to protect your inherited assets.