cash gifts received during marriage

[run10k]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Sorry to post questions in different threads but this is a bit different in nature than my other question.

We had a joint account at a credit union that my ex's father carries out his finances. Poor guy is near 90 and not in best health. He is gifting maximum allowable money to each of his 4 children, every year or in several installments throughout the year. These payments were being made in the form of cash transfers from her father's account to the joint account we had in the same credit union.

Granted he is not my father and he was gifting that money to her daughter. But since my name is on the account as well, am I entitled to half of the money in that account ? There are some community property going into that account but majority of the account balance is from the gifted money from my ex-father in-law. Is this her money or community property ?

 

[mistoffolees]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Sorry to post questions in different threads but this is a bit different in nature than my other question.

We had a joint account at a credit union that my ex's father carries out his finances. Poor guy is near 90 and not in best health. He is gifting maximum allowable money to each of his 4 children, every year or in several installments throughout the year. These payments were being made in the form of cash transfers from her father's account to the joint account we had in the same credit union.

Granted he is not my father and he was gifting that money to her daughter. But since my name is on the account as well, am I entitled to half of the money in that account ? There are some community property going into that account but majority of the account balance is from the gifted money from my ex-father in-law. Is this her money or community property ?

Money going into a marital account is community property and would be equally divided.

Of course, nothing prevents you from doing the honorable thing and letting stbx have all of the money which came from her father.

 

[run10k]

I would gladly do the honorable thing if she was not coming after me, for a $5K deposit she saw in my mom's account and accusing me transferring community assets to my mother's account. You can see the detail in my other post regarding that ordeal. So, since she pulled out all the guns and coming at me blazing, I am planning to put my best defense, which is an offense. If she backs off, I will too, but if not, that money is going to go to the lawyers rather than her.

I wanted this divorce to be civil. Offered to divide everything in the middle (hey this is CA) and get rid of the attorneys. She did not agree. Now I am about 20K in attorney's fees just because of her frivolous demands. I am playing her game with her rules. Call me emotional. Yes I am. I lost my cool on this case unfortunately.

 

[Proserpina]

I would gladly do the honorable thing if she was not coming after me, for a $5K deposit she saw in my mom's account and accusing me transferring community assets to my mother's account. You can see the detail in my other post regarding that ordeal. So, since she pulled out all the guns and coming at me blazing, I am planning to put my best defense, which is an offense. If she backs off, I will too, but if not, that money is going to go to the lawyers rather than her.

I wanted this divorce to be civil. Offered to divide everything in the middle (hey this is CA) and get rid of the attorneys. She did not agree. Now I am about 20K in attorney's fees just because of her frivolous demands. I am playing her game with her rules. Call me emotional. Yes I am. I lost my cool on this case unfortunately.

You both need to grow up.

 

[HomeGuru]

You both need to grow up.

**A: good one.

 

[run10k]

You both need to grow up.

I was a grown up up until she decided she wanted a divorce and along with that, almost everything I had. I decided to bring out the child in me who wants everything and don't wanna share. Eye for an eye... I am vindictive, although not as much as she is.

 

[HomeGuru]

I was a grown up up until she decided she wanted a divorce and along with that, almost everything I had. I decided to bring out the child in me who wants everything and don't wanna share. Eye for an eye... I am vindictive, although not as much as she is.

**A: wow, finally an OP telling the truth.

 

[run10k]

on an unrelated subject (actually related)

on an unrelated subject (actually related) how long of a time customarily is looked back at the bank accounts funded from community property ? I mean from the date of filing the divorce. I am under the impression that, the day she filed is the day my earnings became my money and hers became hers. Right ? More I am delving into her bank statements more interesting things I am discovering. In the last 2 months of filing, there is a hefty amount of cash taken out of accounts under her name but funding came from community assets, i.e., her self employed business income. The total of this money is in the order of few thousands of dollars. I am hoping to ask half of that money as a community asset as she raided the accounts under my name already and got half of what was there.

 

[run10k]

**A: wow, finally an OP telling the truth.

Mind you I did not get married just for the convenience factor. I really cared for her and loved her. She on the other hand, loved the man whom she thought she can turn me into. In my 40s I think the bending and turning age period has sailed away. I gave a lot of leeway but it was not enough for her. So she decided to bail and find someone else she can mold. This will be her third if she can manage to find such a sucker, but one is born everyday they say, don't they ?

So, I have no reason why I should hold back why I am acting the way I do.

 

[mistoffolees]

on an unrelated subject (actually related) how long of a time customarily is looked back at the bank accounts funded from community property ? I mean from the date of filing the divorce. I am under the impression that, the day she filed is the day my earnings became my money and hers became hers. Right ? More I am delving into her bank statements more interesting things I am discovering. In the last 2 months of filing, there is a hefty amount of cash taken out of accounts under her name but funding came from community assets, i.e., her self employed business income. The total of this money is in the order of few thousands of dollars. I am hoping to ask half of that money as a community asset as she raided the accounts under my name already and got half of what was there.

Interesting that you think that her self-employed business income would be a community asset but your income should be separate.

Bottom line is that as long as the money is going into a joint account, it's marital. After divorce, you are able to open an account in your own name and deposit your income to that account.

However, if one if you is the primary breadwinner and leaves the other person to starve, that can go against you. Also, if you continue to take money from her income while making it impossible for her to take money from your income, that could go against you.

As for her taking money from joint accounts, that's not necessarily illegal. It depends on what she does with it. If it's used for legal expenses or normal living expenses, it's perfectly legitimate. If you can show that the money was withdrawn and moved into an account solely in her name, she would have to account for it in the property division.

 

[LdiJ]

on an unrelated subject (actually related) how long of a time customarily is looked back at the bank accounts funded from community property ? I mean from the date of filing the divorce. I am under the impression that, the day she filed is the day my earnings became my money and hers became hers. Right ? More I am delving into her bank statements more interesting things I am discovering. In the last 2 months of filing, there is a hefty amount of cash taken out of accounts under her name but funding came from community assets, i.e., her self employed business income. The total of this money is in the order of few thousands of dollars. I am hoping to ask half of that money as a community asset as she raided the accounts under my name already and got half of what was there.

What cash did you think she used to pay her attorney?..her living expenses?...her bills?

 

[Bali Hai]

Interesting that you think that her self-employed business income would be a community asset but your income should be separate.

Bottom line is that as long as the money is going into a joint account, it's marital. After divorce, you are able to open an account in your own name and deposit your income to that account.

However, if one if you is the primary breadwinner and leaves the other person to starve, that can go against you. Also, if you continue to take money from her income while making it impossible for her to take money from your income, that could go against you.

As for her taking money from joint accounts, that's not necessarily illegal. It depends on what she does with it. If it's used for legal expenses or normal living expenses, it's perfectly legitimate. If you can show that the money was withdrawn and moved into an account solely in her name, she would have to account for it in the property division.

SHE will need to do that when she produces her financial affidavit.

The divorce action has been filed, he can and SHOULD open his own account, NOW.

She obviouly can't be trusted and it will prevent her from playing anymore games. She is free to do the same.

 

[Bali Hai]

Money going into a marital account is community property and would be equally divided.

Of course, nothing prevents you from doing the honorable thing and letting stbx have all of the money which came from her father.

I'm sure the stbx would also do the honorable thing.

It's amazing how you vacillate between legal and honorable depending on what the circumstances are.

 

[ecmst12]

You can see the detail in my other post regarding that ordeal.

This is why you should not start multiple threads about the same situation, so we don't have to hunt for relevent details. Keep all related questions/information in THIS thread.

 

[LdiJ]

I don't normally do this but I thought it was so silly that he deleted his other thread that I am reposting it here:

Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 3

division of community property monies

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What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Monday, I have a settlement meeting with my stbx and her attorney and my attorney and there is this prickly issue hanging over my head.

I am a naturalized US citizen and I still have interest in a couple of properties, which currently belong to my mom but I am the only inheritor. About 5 years ago, while my mom was here with me, we have got the bad news that the refuse water pipe got clogged somewhere and backed up in one our properties. Neighbors got hold of a friend of mine and under his supervision, they broke the door to our unit and discovered this problem and the source of stinky smell, disturbing people for a week. Needless to say, all flooring and some of the furniture was damaged.

In a couple of day's time, I took my mom and got a plane ticket and went back to assess the damage and get it fixed. My mom has her own pension over there but not much and I didn't guess the extent of damage. So, I withdrew some money from one of the accounts under my name, partially funded by community money, as cash and went back. The situation did not turn out to be anything to spend any part of that money for the repairs but of course I have incurred few hundred dollars of customary travel expenses out of that money I carried with me. When I came back to the states, I did not put the rest of it to the bank account but used it as my cash reserve over the course of two or so years. Mainly to spite her. She gets cash out of accounts and when I ask why she is not using the debit card she said none of your business and this was my way of saying none of your business to her.

When my mom came back to the states, she brought the bank account books with her for me to see how much money it costed to fix the damages and where her fiannces were at the moment. She withdrew too much local currency from her retirememnt pension account and due to the inflation in my home county, she converted the left over money to US dollars and deposited into an account she had. My stbx, sneaked around one day when I was out with my mom for shopping and saw this transaction. No words said until marriage went on rock. Now she claims I withdrew money from here and deposited into her account. And want half of that money. There is no humanly possible way to subponea the bank records in my home land. Heck, even if I were willing, it would take weeks if not months to get them. So, I prepared a signed statement explaining the situation and gave it to my attorney to attach to the investigative documents other side asked for.

Now, I am going through her finances in the initial discovery documents and I see that in the last 2-3 months prior to filing divorce, she was hoarding cash from her own account, mostly if not wholly funded by community property, 700 buck a pop every few days. The matter of the money I took 5 years ago was a mere 5K. In the last 5 years that she submitted discovery doc.s for, she continuously got 200-500 dollars cash from her account regularly once or twice a month.

Am I subject to giving half of the money that I withdrew from my account because it was a big lumpsum amount and hers were smaller but accumulating more than mine ? Or is she on a fishing expedition ? If she asks half of that money, can I in return as half of the cash she withdrew from her accounts ?