Claudette Branson v. Malcolm D. Branson, II (mem. dec.), 82A01-1601-DR-122

Claudette (Wife) and Malcolm Branson (Husband) married in 1978; long-term marriage with one adopted child who predeceased them. Divorce filed August 29, 2014; final hearings in Sept–Oct 2015.
Wife inherited $495,265 from her mother in August 2014, including a paid-for condominium; she received the inheritance less than a month before filing for dissolution.
Parties had significant marital debt (~$149,184) and had drawn down retirement/investment accounts (~$227,000) to sustain a lifestyle beyond their means; Wife had substantial credit-card spending.
Trial court awarded Wife roughly 54% of the marital estate (including her full inheritance) but required her to pay nearly all marital debts, leaving Husband with a paid-for marital residence and some assets; modification slightly adjusted allocations.
Wife appealed, arguing the court abused its discretion by effectively reducing her inheritance to pay marital debts and failing properly to treat the inheritance as nonmarital/entitled to set-off.

Issue	Wife's Argument	Husband's Argument	Held
Whether trial court abused its discretion in dividing the marital estate by requiring Wife to pay virtually all marital debt and thereby diminishing her inheritance	The inheritance was not co-mingled and Wife moved out before the inheritance; she should receive the full benefit without offset for marital debts	The inheritance was part of the marital estate and Husband had contributed (including caring for Wife's mother); equitable division can require Wife to assume debts to reach a fair overall split	No abuse of discretion; court permissibly included the inheritance in the marital pot, slightly deviated in Wife's favor, and required her to assume debts to make the division equitable

Maxwell v. Maxwell, 850 N.E.2d 969 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006) (upholding award of entire inheritance to one spouse where inheritance was not co-mingled and other spouse contributed nothing)
O'Connell v. O'Connell, 889 N.E.2d 1 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008) (standard of review: division of marital assets left to trial court’s discretion; strong presumption trial court complied with statute)
Thompson v. Thompson, 811 N.E.2d 888 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004) (two-step process for marital property division: identify marital estate, then divide with presumption of equal split subject to statutory factors)
Fobar v. Vonderahe, 771 N.E.2d 57 (Ind. 2002) (trial court not required to set off an inheritance; inheritance may be included in marital division)