Rules for excluding monetary gifts during marriage

C

Craigerst

New member
Rec'd monetary gifts during our marriage. One was 100,000.00. I did apply to have it excluded. What will opposing lawyer counter with as I am sure he will.
 
You have to be able to show ALL of the money was kept completely and separately apart from any and all family monies and purchases.
 
I believe you can exclude inheritances under certain conditions - not sure about other monetary gifts (e.g. a stranger hands you a million dollars). As I understand it, and I am not a lawyer, if the inheritance was made to you alone, and if you kept it separate from any joint monies or assets and did not mingle it with any part of the marital property, it can be excluded. However if the money was mingled with a marital asset in any way, it becomes part of that asset and you can't exclude it. For example, if you inherit $50 000 and use $25 000 for home renos and put the other $25 000 into GICs in your name, you can exclude the GICs from equalization. However, the portion that went into home renos has become part of the marital property. Same goes for using inheritances to buy vehicles, pay off debt, take vacations, pay down mortgage, put in joint RRSPs, etc. (The idea behind this is that if you use an inheritance for something that benefits both spouses, you have made a gift of it to the marriage and hence it isn't yours alone any more).
 
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