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propspinner8251
Oct 9, 2013, 06:16 AM
My soon to be Ex Wife received an inheritance before we got married. She helped pay off my bills and her bills. 7 years later, we are getting divorced. Can she sue me for the cost of my bills that she paid off after divorce?

joypulv
Oct 9, 2013, 07:30 AM
'Can she sue me for the cost of my bills that she paid off after divorce?'
Do you mean 'Can she sue me after the divorce for the cost of my bills that she paid off while married?'

Generally such things are part of the divorce, and what happens to this end during divorce negotiations depends partly on where you live and the rest on how much you are willing to pay your respective lawyers to fight for you.

Anyone can sue anyone for anything. If she sues you after the divorce and these bills hadn't been mentioned, you have a good chance of winning.

ebaines
Oct 9, 2013, 01:37 PM
I would say that she would lose the argument that you should repay her for bills she paid while you were maried, but everything in divorce is negiotiable. In general any assets either of you brought into the marriage and still have as separate accounts you take away in divorce. If she kept her inheritance in her own named accounts she can expect to take them with her. Same thing for any physical assets either of you brought in. But if the assets have been co-mingled it can get very sloppy. If she put her inheritabnce into a joint account with you, mingled with some of your assets, it gets really sloppy to try to undo it. And even if she kept her inheritance money separate but paid bills on your behalf she can't now try to undo it - to do so would be like requiring that every mortgage payment, utility bill, car loan payment etc that either of you ever paid for over the years has to be undone. It won't happen. The only exception is if she argues that the payments were in fact loans with expectation you would pay back. Absent a signed loan agreement with you that would be a difficult argument for her to make.