529 monies

[mr. spock]

I agree. The parent can withdraw the remaining money (and pay the tax on it) and give it to their child if they choose to do so. In this case however, they do not have that choice as the divorce decree says what is to happen to the money. However, dad may have to take it to court to get his share.

Dad, one more thing. Since the account is in mom's name, she is going to have to pay tax on some/all of the money since it won't be going for educational purposes. Therefore expect tax to be deducted from the amount before its divided in half.

Yes, but I would have to pay the tax and fees as per the decree. This all may be moot now because I looked over the accounts that were presented during the trial and the majority of the money is in a UTMA rather than a 529 and my daughter turns 21 in December. Since the judgement only mentions the 529 balances being split and since the UTMA reverts to my daughter upon her turning 21, I won't be seeing anything. My attorney didn't point this out to me unfortunately although I doubt there was anything I could have done during the trial.
Thank you all for your help. I appreciate it.