Divorce consideration in lieu of inheritance

Hi all, financial and divorce considerations here. I am contemplating divorce in a year or 2, unless the wife and I decide to co-exist for 7 more years until my 2nd gets to college. I recently inherited $400K from a relative who passed, and I am checking my thinking on how to invest/protect it in lieu of potential circumstances. I am thinking of doing this first for my 2 kids:

大家好，关于财务和离婚事宜。我正考虑一两年后离婚，除非我和妻子决定再共存7年，直到我家老二上大学。我最近从一位过世的亲戚那里继承了40万美元，我正在盘算如何投资/保护这笔钱以应对潜在情况。我首先打算为我的两个孩子做以下安排：

- 15K for each of them in a HYSA I can get locally at 5%.

每人1.5万美元存进当地能提供5%利率的高收益储蓄账户（HYSA）。

-15K for each of them in their college accounts. (Catching up with their contributions as they both only have about 8,000 there right now)

每人1.5万美元存入他们的大学教育账户。（补交他们之前的捐款，因为他们目前账户里每人只有大约8000美元）

- Inclined to put $70K in a 6-mo CD at 5.25% – and I could roll it over. (Put the account in my name).

倾向于将7万美元存入期限为6个月、利率为5.25%的定期存单（CD）——我可以续存。（账户写我的名字）。

So that leaves about $300K and I am pondering my options for this part. I'm thinking:

这样还剩大约30万美元，我在琢磨这部分资金的选项。我在想：

1) Invest most/all it in Index funds at Fidelity where I already have my 403b set up. I would just break it up amongst 4 or 5 funds, as I am generally aware of the best performers in the different categories/sectors.

1）将大部分/全部资金投入富达基金公司的指数基金，我已经有403b退休金账户设在那里。我会将其分散到4或5只基金中，因为我大致了解不同类别/板块中表现最好的基金。

I also have a smaller brokerage account at Schwab - if I should keep the new money there instead of Fidelity where I have my 403B, but my wife and FA (who is also my Father in law), would be suspicious. Leading into my 2nd option:

我在嘉信理财（Schwab）还有一个较小的经纪账户——我是否应该把新资金放在那里而不是富达（我有403b账户的地方），否则我和妻子以及我的财务顾问（他也是我的岳父）会起疑。接下来是我的第二个选项：

2) Pay off rest of mortgage. I refinanced to a 3.25 rate five years ago. We have about $250K to go on a 30-year fixed. Equity in the house is about $350K with it being worth like 600K. So if I pay it off, in any potential divorce – one of the parties would have to buy the other one out. I’m thinking my wife might buy me out (and I would prefer to keep the kids primarily in home they grew up in), so maybe about 300K would come my way in a buyout in divorce, if I am calculative that correctly. I would plan on renting/buying locally so I could be close to my kids if we split parental rights. Could paying off the mortgage also be a good idea? That of course would suck up the bulk of the current inheritance.

2）还清剩余房贷。五年前我把贷款利率重新调整到了3.25%。在一笔30年固定利率房贷中，我还剩下大约25万要还。房子估值大概60万，所以我拥有的房屋 equity（净资产权益）大约35万。如果我把房贷还清了，万一将来离婚，一方得把另一方的份额买断。我在想我老婆可能会买断我的份额（而我更希望孩子能主要住在我们从小长大的那个家里），所以如果离婚时算得没错的话，我大概能拿到30万左右的买断费。到时候我可能会在本地租房或买房，这样如果抚养权分开的话，我也能离孩子们近一些。现在的问题是，还清房贷是不是个好主意？当然，这会花掉目前继承遗产的大部分资金。

Some other figures if needed: I have 300k in my 403B, my wife will have a pension so she would be all set. We have minimal debt and about $30K in savings. Both make about 100K, me a bit more.

如果需要其他数据：我的403(b)退休账户里有30万，我老婆会有养老金，所以她到时候会完全有保障。我们几乎没什么债务，积蓄大约3万。两人年收入都大约10万，我稍微多一点。

I have another $270K in investments that my FIL has "managed." He has done a crap job and the account has only grown about 2% over 3 years - so he is not managing any of this new $$.

我岳父还“管理”着另外27万的投资资产。他干得一塌糊涂，这笔账户三年才长了2%左右——所以他并没有管理这些新拿到的钱。

I have another $200K in a stretch annuity. Both the current investment account and the stretch annuity are the result of inheritances from my Father’s estate – and I have it at least “on record” in note-to-files that they are funded solely by inheritance on my side. I am the Primary/only account holder on each…but I live in basically a 50/50 state. Although my wife should get some of it of course in a divorce, I think 50/50 is somewhat unfair - seeing that it all comes from my side and I am the primary account holder. I guess I would have a lawyer fight for this a bit - but I will ultimately be fair about it.

我还有一笔20万的长期年金（stretch annuity）。目前的投资账户和这笔长期年金都来自我已故父亲的遗产——而且我至少在“备注档”里有记录，说明这些资金纯粹来自我方的继承遗产。我是这两个账户的唯一主要持有人……但我住的地方基本算是50/50财产分割的州。虽然离婚时我老婆肯定能分到一部分，但我认为完全50/50有点不公平——毕竟这些都来自我这边，而且我是主要持有人。我想我应该让律师为这点争取一下——但我最终也会保持公平。

So with all of these factors in mind, would appreciate your best assessment based on experience. Happy to answer any other ??'s. Thanks.

综合考虑所有这些因素，很希望得到你们基于经验的最好评估。有任何其他问题也欢迎随时问我。谢谢。

then none of the inheritance should be deposited in any joint account that you share with your wife. Nor should any inherited funds be utilized to pay off your home, which would be considered marital property.

那么任何继承所得都不应该存入你和你妻子共有的任何联合账户中。同样，也不应该用继承来的资金去偿还你的住房，因为那会被视为婚姻财产。

To prevent any ambiguity about whether inherited funds are separate from marital funds (to guarantee that they cannot be targeted in a divorce), you might want to set up a trust and have the inheritance conveyed directly from the aunt's estate to the trust. In that case you would name yourself the sole trustee, the children as beneficiaries, and invest the funds as you have described.

为了确保继承资金与婚姻资金明确分开（以保证它们在离婚时不被作为分割目标），你可能需要设立一个信托，并让这笔继承资金直接从我阿姨的遗产转入该信托。在这种情况下，你可以指定自己为唯一受托人，孩子们为受益人，并按照你描述的方式投资这些资金。

Talk to a lawyer ASAP.

赶紧去找律师谈谈。

in "free" consultations separated by a year. Lawyer said they had a colleague that would fight "somewhat" for me to keep more of the inherited funds, but it wasn't exactly an enthusiastic response on that front.

两次是隔了一年的“免费”咨询。律师说他们有个同事会为我争取保留更多继承资金，但对这点回应得并不是很积极。

I am inclined to put the inheritance in one of my brokerages as a new investment Acct. My 403b and Rollover IRA is managed by Fidelity, and I have a a small amount of stock purchases in a Charles Schwab acct. that rolled over from TD Ameritrade (Only worth like 3K). Do you see any advantage to setting up a new Acct. in either - or would you start it with an entirely new company? I get your take on the trust but I probably won't go that route.

我倾向于把遗产作为一笔新投资放入我其中一个券商账户里。我的403(b)和滚存IRA都在富达管理，另外我在嘉信理财有个从TD Ameritrade转过来的账户，里面只有一小部分股票，大概值3K美元。你觉得在这两家之间新开一个账户有什么优势吗？还是说你建议我直接换一个全新的券商？关于信托那个说法我懂你的意思，但我估计我大概率不会走那条路。

Fight for you means I'm willing to bill hours for as long as it takes. I don't want a lawyer whose first reaction is to pick a fight, I want an efficient one who will minimize the amount of work needed.

“为你而战”的意思是，我愿意为了你的案子花费尽可能长的计费时间。但我不要那种第一反应就是挑起诉讼的律师，我想要的是一个能尽量减少工作量的高效律师。

Step one; protect the inheritance. If any money gets tainted (commingled with marital assets) half of it or more could be gone in a divorce. If say the money hits a joint account on its way to get moved, guess what it could just be tainted and considered marital assets. This is why the direct trust would make a lot of sense, from the word go there is a clear path with the inheritance.

第一步：保护好这笔遗产。如果钱被染上了“污染”（即与夫妻共同财产混同），离婚时可能有一半甚至更多的钱就没了。比如说，如果钱在转移途中先进入了联名账户，那它就可能被认定为混同并被视为共同财产。这就是为什么从一开始就直接设立信托很合理，这样遗产的路径就清清楚楚。

I would not be so hell bent on distributing your money now. Is there a particular reason why your kids need those accounts now other than to make you feel better? Make sure your will is in order but beyond that keep it in the trust and use it on them for big life events as needed.

我不建议你那么执拗地现在就分配你的钱。除了为了让你自己心里好受点，你孩子的账户现在到底还有什么特别必要吗？确保遗嘱没问题，除此之外，就把钱留在信托里，根据需要在他们的人生重大事件上动用这笔钱。

If you got "free" advice you didn't like, find a paid attorney to get the proper legal answer. From my experiences leaving the money in the "exact" mechanism it is today and only leaving your name on it transferred from the estate is a good start. Once you sell or transfer it into a new or existing account you are looking at claims by your partner that it became a martial asset when you moved it. Unless it goes into some type of account you opened before you got married that does not have your partner's name on it. And still then a good divorce attorney is going to argue it is marital assets. And some states have exempted assets, like life insurance values or irrevocable trusts. Not legal advice.............

如果你得到过你不满意的“免费”建议，那就找个付费律师来获取正确的法律意见。根据我的经验，让钱保持现在的结构，只是把所有权从遗产过户到你名下，这是个不错的开始。一旦你卖出或把资金转入新账户或现有账户，你的伴侣就可能主张这笔钱在转移过程中变成了夫妻共同财产。除非你把它存入婚前开设且配偶名字不在上面的账户。即便如此，好的离婚律师还是会争辩说这属于共同财产。而且有些州有豁免资产的规定，比如人寿保险价值或不可撤销信托。这不是法律建议……

Each state is much different with assets and liabilities during a divorce. Protecting assets gained while married that you don't want to be seen as marital assets can be very difficult, even if inherited. I suggest you talk with the proper attorney before doing anything.

各州在离婚时的资产和负债认定差异很大。即使是通过继承获得的资产，如果你想保护那些婚后获得的资产不被视为共同财产，也可能非常困难。我建议你在采取任何行动前先咨询合适的律师。

You should probably speak to a CPA but any inheritance received during a marriage is not community property.

你可能应该咨询一下注册会计师，但婚姻期间收到的任何遗产都不属于夫妻共同财产。

In California, any monies inherited during a marriage has to be paid back in the divorce. If you received $400K inheritance and put that $400K in home upgrades, your wife would have to repay you for it. This has happened to two family members.

在加州，婚姻期间继承的任何金钱如果在离婚时都需要进行补偿。如果你收到40万遗产，并把这40万用于房屋装修，你的妻子必须向你偿还这笔钱。我家里就有两个成员经历过这种情况。