Practice Area · Family Wealth
Trust interests in divorce.
When one spouse is a trust beneficiary, the first question isn't how much is in the trust — it's what the beneficiary actually holds. The trust instrument, not the account balance, decides the case.
What the Beneficiary Actually Owns
Instruments differ. Outcomes follow.
A mandatory right to income is a very different thing from a purely discretionary interest that a trustee may or may not ever exercise — and Colorado treats them differently when deciding whether an interest is divisible property, separate property with marital appreciation, an economic circumstance in the division, or income relevant to support. Remainder interests, powers of appointment, and spendthrift provisions each move the analysis. This is the corner of family law where reading the instrument like an estate planner — which my tax training lets me do — is the entire game.
Even where a trust interest isn't divisible property, it rarely vanishes from the case: distributions can bear on support, and the beneficiary's overall economic circumstances remain part of an equitable division. The realistic goal is precision — keeping the trust in its correct legal lane, whichever side of the case you're on.
Protecting the Structure
For families, trustees, and the advisors who serve them.
Much of my trust work happens before any divorce: coordinating prenuptial and postnuptial agreements with existing family trusts so the instruments tell one consistent story; advising beneficiaries on distribution and commingling habits that preserve separateness; and, when a divorce does come, working so that discovery into family trusts stays proportionate and the dispute stays between the spouses — not between one spouse and a family's entire estate plan. Estate planning counsel and family offices will find in me a family lawyer who speaks their language.
Common Questions
Asked by beneficiaries — and by their parents.
My spouse's family has a large trust. Do I have a claim to it?
It depends entirely on what your spouse holds under the instrument — mandatory rights, discretionary hopes, or a remainder that may never arrive. The document controls; the balance is almost irrelevant. This is precisely the analysis to get right early.
Will my family's trust get dragged into my divorce?
Some disclosure about your interest is unavoidable; wholesale excavation of the family's planning is not. Proportionate discovery is a fight worth having, and one I know how to have.
Can a prenup protect my trust interests?
Yes — and for trust beneficiaries it's the single most effective tool available, especially for the appreciation and distributions the default rules handle worst. Ideally the agreement is drafted in concert with the family's estate planning counsel; that coordination is work I do regularly.
The rest of this chapter.
Closely held businesses, professional practices, executive and equity compensation, trusts, real estate, and the tracing that decides what is marital and what is not.
- Business Valuationthe number that decides the case→
- High-Asset Divorcecomplex estates, disclosure, and the five-year rule→
- Business Owner Divorcekeeping the company you built→
- Complex Financial Divorcevalue, characterize, tax-effect — then divide→
- Property Divisionequitable, not automatic 50/50→
- Separate Propertya records-management discipline→
- Spousal Maintenancethe formula, published with a worked example→
- Executive Compensationproperty or income — the line worth arguing→
- Stock Options & RSUstax character changes real value→
- Trust Intereststhe instrument, not the balance, decidesYou are here
- Real Estatevalue, equity, and after-tax proceeds differ→
- Retirement AssetsQDROs, and three different currencies→
- Professional Practicesgoodwill, licensure, and buyouts→
- Tax Strategythe settlement that matters is the after-tax one→
- Hidden Assets & Forensic Discoverythe disclosure duty, and the five-year hammer→
- Cryptocurrency & Digital Assetsfindable, valuable, divisible→
- Married to the Business Ownerleveling the information field→
- Income Determinationwhat “income” means when you own the company→
Engagement
Bring the instrument. That's where your answer lives.
A consultation is a scheduled working session — in person in Greenwood Village or by video — in which we go through your situation and I tell you what I would do. It is a paid meeting, not a free call and not a sales pitch; my assistant quotes the consultation fee when you schedule. There is no chatbot here: the contact form and the phone both reach my office, my assistant reviews every inquiry personally, and the meeting goes on my calendar. Please hold the confidential details until we have run a conflicts check.