When the Court determines family law property settlements, they are required to consider all aspects of a parties’ financial circumstances. The Full Court has held “all of the property held by both of the parties or either of them can be subject of orders, regardless of when particular assets were acquired.”
The case quoted above is Calvin v McTier [2017] the Husband had received an inheritance four years after separation. In summary, the Judge included the inheritance in the pool of assets which would be divided between the husband and wife.
To summarise, if a party receives an inheritance after separation and the property pool has not yet been distributed and finalised, it is possible for the inheritance to be included in the property to be divided amongst the couple. The easiest way to avoid this is to deal with property division as soon as possible after separation.