Shortly after our marriage, I received a significant inheritance from my Mother. Is my spouse entitled to any of this money?

It depends, but in general, inherited funds are separate from the marital estate. We counsel clients who have received an inheritance to maintain the inheritance in a separately held account solely in the client’s name. Do not place the funds in a joint account with your spouse unless you desire the funds to be a portion of your marital estate. 

If you use the inherited funds to purchase other assets, such as the marital home, you also risk comingling your once-separate funds with your marital estate. In the case of a marital home, although the funds were separate upon your receipt as an inheritance, they were used to purchase a marital asset: the marital home. Following the purchase, marital funds may have been used to maintain the asset through the payment of a mortgage, homeowner’s insurance, or property taxes.