South Dakota Supreme Court Orders Equitable Division of Wife’s Inheritance upon Divorce

In Halbersma v. Halbersma, No. 24290 (S.D. Aug. 22, 2007), wife received an inheritance from her parents during her marriage and kept it in a separate account. Husband worked on the farm and provided for the family. After 50 years of marriage, the wife filed for divorce and claimed that she should receive the full amount of the inheritance as her separate property. The trial court agreed.

On appeal, the South Dakota Supreme Court held that the inheritance was not ipso facto excluded from consideration in the overall division of property; only where one spouse made no or de minimis contributions to the acquisition or maintenance of property and had no need for support, should a court set it aside as non-marital property.

The Court found that husband’s contribution was not de minimis because he invested all of his earnings into marital assets; but for his contribution wife would have spend some of her inheritance to help support the family. The court remanded the case for equitable division of property, including the inherited property.