Future Inheritances & Divorce

The difference between a remote possibility and an inheritance which is close to becoming available is often another battle ground during divorce. If future family wealth may affect your divorce settlement, Laurus can assess the evidence, explain the realistic range of outcomes, and help you negotiate from an informed position.

A future inheritance is not automatically included

An individual remains free to change their will, spend their money, give assets away, or require those assets for their own care at any point during their lives. Even where an adult child has long expected to inherit the family home or a share of a business, they ordinarily have no enforceable ownership of it simply because they are named in a current will. For that reason, the court will not usually add a speculative inheritance to the matrimonial balance sheet and divide it between the spouses.

However, it is not an absolute rule that future inheritances must always be ignored, and when deciding a financial application, the court considers all the circumstances, including the income, property, and other financial resources each spouse has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future. The closer, clearer, and more reliable the expected inheritance is, the more capable it becomes of influencing the court's assessment; often becoming an issue of evidence and timing.

Timing and certainty shape the court's approach

An expectation that a healthy parent may leave an inheritance at some unknown point in the future is usually too uncertain. The parent may live for many years, revise the will, remarry, make lifetime gifts, or use a substantial part of the estate to meet their living costs. The value of investments, property, or a family business may also change. For these reasons, a court cannot safely build a settlement around a resource which may never arise in the form or amount suggested.

The situation may be different where the inheritance is expected soon and there is reliable evidence about the estate. A relative's advanced age or serious illness may make the timing less remote, but neither fact automatically turns an expectation into a solid asset.

The court is more likely to regard an inheritance as relevant where the benefactor has already died; the will is valid, and the spouse's entitlement can be identified. Even then, tax, debts, administration expenses, claims against the estate, and uncertainty over asset values may affect both the amount and the date of receipt.

Being named in a will does not create present ownership

A will which identifies one spouse as a beneficiary is relevant evidence, but it does not give that spouse an immediate right to the testator's property while they are still alive. As we have already stated, a will can be revoked at any time and beneficiaries removed. The court will consider how recent and reliable the will is, whether there have been consistent family arrangements, and whether any legal right exists outside the will, but it should not simply assume that the beneficiary will eventually receive the stated gift.

Potential wealth may affect future needs

Although a speculative inheritance is not normally divided as if it were cash in the bank, a sufficiently clear future resource may affect how needs are assessed. For example, the court may consider whether one spouse is likely to acquire secure housing or a meaningful income-producing fund within a foreseeable period. This can matter where the available matrimonial assets are insufficient to provide both spouses with their preferred outcome.

A spouse should not be left without suitable financial security on the assumption that an elderly parent will die or that a promised gift will remain unchanged. The court may instead prefer a settlement which meets immediate needs from assets that actually exist. 

Probate changes the legal and practical position

Once the person making the will has died, the beneficiary's position is no longer merely dependent on a future decision. Their entitlement arises under the will or intestacy rules, although the estate must still be administered, which can take many months. If probate is underway, the court can consider the likely net value of the entitlement, the assets which may be transferred or sold, the anticipated timetable, and any genuine dispute affecting distribution.

A beneficiary does not usually need to have the money in their account before it can be relevant. If the value of the entitlement can be assessed, it may amount to property or a financial resource even though the personal representatives or executors have not completed dealing with the estate. However, a contested will, an unresolved tax position, an insolvent estate, or a potential claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 may make the outcome much less certain.

Once inherited assets are received, their source remains important, but does not make them automatically immune from a divorce settlement. The court distinguishes between matrimonial and non-matrimonial property, yet needs can justify recourse to inherited wealth, particularly where there is not enough matrimonial property to provide appropriate housing or income. How the inheritance has been held and used after receipt can also become relevant.

Proceedings are not routinely delayed to await an inheritance

A court will not normally postpone a fair resolution of divorce finances simply because a spouse may one day inherit. Delay creates cost, uncertainty, and practical difficulty, while the anticipated resource may never materialise. Where the prospect is distant or dependent on the choices of a living relative, the case will generally be determined using the resources and reliable evidence available at the time.

A short adjournment may be considered where a death has already occurred, probate is progressing, and distribution is likely within a reasonably short period. The court will weigh the benefit of obtaining clearer information against the prejudice caused by delay, and may also consider whether the case can proceed while retaining flexibility over a limited issue, although the appropriate solution will depend on the procedural stage and the orders sought.

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