Divorce May Not Be the Season to Be Giving

 Posted on December 20, 2013 in Family Law

Be careful if you are gifting money to support a father, mother or friend. Your soon-to-be ex spouse may be doing the same thing.

Let's say your spouse is loaning money to a relative outside of the country or outside of your state and has done so for years. Lots of money. You know that these are loans because your spouse has told you they are loans and "they will be repaid" Loans, you tell the judge during your divorces that need to be repaid to the marital estate so you get your fair share. A fancy word for it might be that the loan is an asset known as an account receivable owed to both of you which should be reimbursed by your spouse to you or at least to the marital estate and then divided.

But your spouse says now during your divorce, that you also have been making gifts of money to your parents for years. Of course these are in fact much smaller amounts say hundreds of dollars and your spouses are in thousands of dollars. So your spouse now says his loans to family are really just gifts consented to by both of you by mutual agreement. The proof is by your "gifts to your family.  What's good for the goose is after all good for the gander.

Protect yourself by having getting it in writing if you expect repayment. A promissory note, or non-gift letter or written acknowledgement explaining that this is a loan not a gift will do, and be sure to specify the terms of repayment, interest rate, due date and so forth.

Remember as Louis Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer fame once quipped, "An oral agreement is not worth the paper it's printed on."

If you are in need of an Illinois family law attorney, contact our Hinsdale law firm today. We offer free consultations of your divorce, child custody, or paternity case.