Inheritances You Have Received
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Prenuptial Agreements · Virginia
Family money meant for you
can stay in the family.
An inheritance or a gift from your parents starts out as yours alone under Virginia law. Then it gets deposited into the joint account, or spent on the joint house, and years later no one can prove where it went. A prenup keeps that from ever happening.
First call is a conversation, not a commitment. · By Alisa Chunephisal, Esq.
The Short Answer
Yes. A Virginia prenup can protect inheritances and gifts, both ones you have already received and ones you expect in the future. Virginia Code § 20-150 lets you agree in writing that inherited and gifted property stays separate, even if it gets mixed into the household over time. That last part is the protection the default law cannot give you.
How It Works
Inherited money is separate by law. Until normal life mixes it in.
Here is the honest picture: Virginia already protects inheritances and gifts on paper. The protection fails in practice because of how families actually use money. A prenup fixes the practice problem.
What the default law says
Under Va. Code § 20-107.3(A)(1), property you acquire during the marriage by inheritance, or by gift from someone other than your spouse, is your separate property. A divorce court does not divide it. Grandma's bequest, the down payment help from your parents, the family lake cabin passed to you alone: all of it starts out protected, with or without a prenup.
How the protection gets lost
The protection depends on the money staying traceable. That is where real life intervenes. The inheritance check gets deposited into the joint checking account and mixes with paychecks. Part of it pays down the mortgage on the marital home. Some of it covers a kitchen renovation, a car, a family vacation. Ten years later, the burden is on you to trace every dollar, and the spouse claiming property is separate must prove it. Without clean records, commingled inheritance money can be treated as marital property and divided. We have watched six figure inheritances disappear into the marital pot one ordinary transaction at a time.
There is a second trap: gifts between spouses. If your parents gift money to both of you, or you retitle inherited property into joint names, it is generally marital from that moment. The family money has left the family, and no tracing can bring it back.
What a prenup does differently
A prenuptial agreement under Va. Code § 20-150 replaces the tracing burden with a rule the two of you wrote. The agreement can state that inheritances and gifts received by either spouse, before or during the marriage, remain that spouse's separate property, including the growth and income they produce. It can go further and answer the commingling question in advance: what happens if inherited funds pass through a joint account, pay marital bills, or improve the marital home. It can also name expected inheritances, which matters for anyone whose parents have an estate plan built on the assumption that family money stays with their child.
The requirements are the same as for the rest of the agreement. In writing and signed by both parties under Va. Code § 20-149, entered voluntarily, with fair financial disclosure under Va. Code § 20-151. Expected inheritances belong in that disclosure too. Surprising your spouse with a family fortune years later is exactly the kind of omission that invites a challenge.
The default ruleInheritances and third party gifts are your separate property under Va. Code § 20-107.3(A)(1), even when received during the marriage.
The riskCommingling with marital money, or retitling into joint names, can convert inherited property into marital property, and the burden of tracing falls on you.
The prenup fixA written rule that inheritances and gifts stay separate, including their growth, with the commingling questions answered in advance.
What it takesIn writing, signed, voluntary, with fair disclosure that includes inheritances you expect, not just ones you have.
The Statute, Plainly
Virginia Code § 20-107.3(A)(1) makes property acquired by bequest, devise, descent, or gift from a third party separate property. Virginia Code § 20-150 lets engaged couples put that protection in contract form, where it survives the commingling that defeats the default rule in real households.
Va. Code §§ 20-107.3(A)(1), 20-149, 20-150, 20-151 · verified as of June 2026
What the Agreement Covers
Six kinds of family money a prenup keeps in the family.
Every family's situation is different, but these six come up in almost every agreement where inherited wealth is involved.
Inheritances You Expect
Future bequests under a parent's or relative's estate plan, kept separate before they ever arrive.
Future BequestsGifts From Your Family
Down payment help, tuition support, and annual gifts from parents or grandparents, marked as yours alone.
Third Party GiftsThe Family Property
A cabin, farm, or home that has been in your family for generations, protected from a forced sale or division.
Generational LandTrust Interests
Distributions and beneficial interests under family trusts, coordinated with the trust's own protections.
Works With the TrustGrowth and Income
The appreciation, interest, and dividends inherited assets produce during the marriage, kept separate if you choose.
If You ChooseThe Practical Side
What keeps family money protected, and what gives it away.
The agreement is half the job. What you do with the money afterward is the other half.
+ Helps your case
- Naming received and expected inheritances in the agreement
- Keeping inherited money in an account in your name only
- Language that covers growth, income, and commingling in advance
- Coordinating the prenup with your family's estate plan or trust
- Disclosing expected family money honestly before signing
− Hurts your case
- Depositing an inheritance into the joint account
- Retitling inherited property into both names
- Spending inherited funds on the marital home with no written rule for it
- Keeping an expected inheritance secret from the disclosure
- Relying on memory instead of records to trace the money later
Alisa Chunephisal, Esq.
Founding Partner
Attorney Insight
What I tell clients about inherited money.
"Inheritances are not lost in court. They are lost at the bank, one joint deposit at a time, years before anyone files anything."
Alisa's honest counsel: write the rule before the money arrives.
The best time to protect an inheritance is before you receive it, because that is when no one is emotional about it. Put the rule in the prenup, then keep inherited money in its own account and let the agreement do the rest. And talk to your parents. If they have a trust or an estate plan built around keeping money in the family, your prenup should line up with it. We coordinate the two documents all the time, and the combination is far stronger than either one alone.
More on Prenuptial Agreements
Related parts of a Virginia prenup.
01
Premarital Assets
Read more → 02Business Interests
Read more → 03Inheritances & Gifts
You are here 04Debt Protection
Read more → 05Spousal Support Terms
Read more → 06Children From a Prior Marriage
Read more → 07Postnuptial Agreements
Read more → 08Full Financial Disclosure
Read more → 09Independent Review
Read more → 10Updating the Agreement
Read more →Questions People Actually Ask
Plain answers about inheritances and gifts.
These are the questions we hear most about protecting family money. If you have a different one, we are happy to answer it directly.
Have a specific question?
Call 571.260.0999 or send us a message.
Is an inheritance marital property in Virginia?
Not at first. Under Va. Code § 20-107.3(A)(1), property you receive by inheritance, or by gift from someone other than your spouse, is your separate property even if it arrives during the marriage. The danger is what happens next: commingling it with marital money or retitling it jointly can convert it into divisible marital property.
Can a prenup protect an inheritance I have not received yet?
Yes. Under Va. Code § 20-150, the agreement can cover property whenever and wherever acquired, which includes future inheritances. The agreement can state that anything either spouse inherits during the marriage remains that spouse's separate property, along with its growth and income. Expected inheritances should also appear in the financial disclosure.
What if inherited money was already mixed into joint accounts?
Tell your attorney early, because options shrink with time. Without an agreement, commingled inheritance money can be claimed as separate only if you can trace it, and the burden of proof is on you. A prenup, or a postnuptial agreement if you are already married, can set a rule for funds that were previously commingled while both of you still agree on where the money came from.
My parents have a family trust. Do I still need this?
Often yes. A well built trust protects assets while they sit inside it, but distributions that reach your hands can be commingled like any other money. A prenup covers the gap between the trust and your bank account, and we coordinate the agreement with the family's estate plan so the two protections reinforce each other.
When You Are Ready
It was meant for you. Keep it that way.
Tell us about the family money you want protected, received or expected. We will put it in writing the right way, with time to spare before the wedding. Three offices across Northern Virginia, one phone number.