Every family has things it would rather keep close. Maybe it is a piece of news, or maybe it is a piece of real estate. Either way, things do not stay in the family on their own. It takes some effort and planning to ensure that what is meant for your family stays with your family. You may have good reasons for wanting to leave money only to your children. You may prefer that it not pass to their spouses but not know how to prevent that. The good news is that there are legal ways to keep an inheritance in the family (with your child), both before a gift is made and, in some cases, afterward.
Why a Parent Might Want to Keep an Inheritance in the Family
Parents may assume that an outright gift or inheritance to their child comes with an unwritten “family-only” label. But once a gift lands in an adult child’s hands, it can become hard to keep it separate from the child’s marriage without legal guardrails in place.
The decision to keep an inheritance away from a son- or daughter-in-law can feel personal, even when it is not. Parents may worry that structuring a gift this way sends the wrong message about how they view their child’s marriage or spouse, but there are plenty of practical reasons to draw that line.
For example, a parent may want to eventually pass family wealth to grandchildren, preserve a family home or business for future generations, or simply ensure that assets accumulated by one family remain within that family over time. Several other practical reasons include the following:
- If your child deposits an inheritance into a joint bank account shared with a spouse or uses those funds to pay down the mortgage on a jointly owned home, separate property often becomes commingled marital property.
- In the event of divorce, that inheritance is now on the table for division.
- Alternatively, if your child passes away unexpectedly without an airtight estate plan of their own, a surviving spouse may become a primary heir, potentially putting assets you intended for your grandchildren on a path to a new spouse or another family after remarriage.
These concerns are not limited to families dealing with divorce, distrust, or conflict.In fact, J.P. Morgan Private Bank has described the prospect of an ex-spouse ending up with family wealth as a leading worry for parents.[1] The firm notes that families may use trusts and other planning tools like prenuptial and postnuptial agreements specifically to keep inherited wealth from eventually landing with a child’s former spouse.[2]
A recent best-selling memoir demonstrates how easily inherited wealth can become entangled with marital property. In her 2026 memoir, Strangers, author and heiress Belle Burden writes that she used the proceeds of two inherited family trusts to buy a Tribeca apartment and a Martha’s Vineyard home and that she titled both properties jointly with her husband.[3] When the marriage ended, her husband initially held a legal claim to half of each property, which could have forced Burden to buy him out of homes she says were bought with her inherited funds.[4] The dispute ended with Burden keeping both homes,[5] but her story is a cautionary tale of how inherited separate property can become commingled joint property.
Estate Planning Tools to Keep an Inheritance in the Family and Protect Family Wealth
Wanting to protect an inheritance from a child’s current or future spouse may have nothing to do with how you feel about that spouse and everything to do with where you want family assets to end up decades from now. Families can turn those intentions into plans with the following legal tools:
- Trusts for inheritance. Assets do not have to be directly handed over to an adult child. You can instead place them into a trust of which the child is the beneficiary, and because the trust (not your child) technically owns the property or funds, the assets generally remain legally separate from individual and marital property. This can help keep the inheritance from being carved up in a divorce or claimed by a surviving spouse if your child passes away.
- Life estates for housing situations. Parents who want a child to enjoy a family home or vacation property for the child’s lifetime can give the child a life estate, either in a will or by deed during the parent’s life. A life estate lets the child live in or use the property for life. When the child dies, the property passes to the people you named, such as grandchildren, rather than to the child’s spouse. Because the child’s interest ends at death and the child never owns the property outright, a life estate may help keep the home out of a marital estate or out of a dispute if the relationship ends. The protection depends on how the arrangement is written as well as on state law.
- Rights of occupancy in a trust or will. Alternatively, parents can place the home in a trust, or direct in a will that it be held in trust, and give the child the right to live there without owning it. The trust can set the terms, such as who pays taxes, insurance, and upkeep, and establish what happens if the child moves out. Because the trust owns the home, the child has only a right to use it, which may help keep the property out of a marital estate and out of a dispute if the marriage ends. As with a life estate, the protection can weaken if marital funds are used to pay for the home or its improvements.
- Separately titled accounts for gifted funds. Keeping monetary gifts or liquid assets untangled requires discipline. Gifts should stay in accounts titled in the child’s individual name, away from joint checking accounts and joint debts, where they can more easily lose their separate legal identity.
- The child’s estate plan. Your child can also use wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, and other planning documents to help keep inherited wealth in the family. These types of documents can direct assets toward children, grandchildren, or other intended family members and prevent them from passing elsewhere later.
These protections are generally most effective when they are built into a plan from the beginning, before money or property changes hands. Once an inheritance or gift has already been transferred to your child, the decision to keep it separate may be mostly out of your hands, but there may still be steps you can take.
Protecting an Inheritance After the Fact
Some parents choose to give gifts during their lifetime. A “giving while living” approach has become more popular, with one source finding that close to half of clients who intend to pass on assets choose to share a portion of that wealth during their lifetimes so they can directly see family members benefiting from it.[6]
Parents may realize too late that a transfer lacks the guardrails that prevent problematic commingling. Even so, a gift that has already been made does not rule out managing the risk.
- Talk to your child about formalizing the plan now. Openly communicating your inheritance concerns with an adult child can get you on the same page. Framing the talk around long-term family goals, such as preserving assets for grandchildren or keeping inherited property separate, can take some of the personal sting out of the discussion and keep it focused on the family. Your child may be able to keep remaining funds in individually titled accounts or utilize a postnuptial agreement in place of a prenuptial agreement.
- Involve an estate planning attorney. Once property has already changed hands, the available options could come down to how the gift was titled, used, or commingled. An estate planning attorney (often working with a family law attorney) can review what has taken place and recommend steps such as updated beneficiary designations, trust planning, or coordinated marital agreements to provide added safeguards for assets moving forward.
The earlier you have these conversations and voice your desire to keep an inheritance in the family, both with your child and your attorney, the better. A proactive approach preserves your options and underscores that the goal is protecting family wealth, not targeting or excluding one particular in-law. Contact McDonald Law Firm, an experienced Howard County, Montgomery County and District of Columbia estate planning, special-needs planning and Medicaid planning firm at (443) 741-1088; (301) 941-7809, (410) 337-8900 or (202) 640-2133; or use the following link: https://www.mcdonaldesq.com/#contactWrapper to schedule an initial consultation to discuss how to protect your child’s inheritance.
DISCLAIMER: THE INFORMATION POSTED ON THIS BLOG IS INTENDED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO CONVEY LEGAL, INSURANCE OR TAX ADVICE.
[1] Erika Shaw & Jordan Sprechman, The Vital Role Prenups Play in Protecting Family Wealth, J.P. Morgan Priv. Bank (Mar. 11, 2026), https://privatebank.jpmorgan.com/nam/en/insights/markets-and-investing/ideas-and-insights/the-vital-role-prenups-play-in-protecting-family-wealth.
[2] Id.
[3] Belle Burden Accused of Exaggerating Hardship as Divorce Documents Reportedly Show Heiress Was Far from Broke, 930 WFMD Free Talk (May 30, 2026), https://www.wfmd.com/2026/05/30/belle-burden-accused-of-exaggerating-hardship-as-divorce-documents-reportedly-show-heiress-was-far-from-broke.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Wealth.com and The Compound Insights Release New Study on the Rise of “Giving While Living” and Family-Wide Legacy Planning, Wealth.com (Feb. 25, 2026), https://www.wealth.com/resources/press/wealth-com-and-the-compound-insights-release-new-study-on-the-rise-of-giving-while-living-and-family-wide-legacy-planning.
