Expected Inheritance as Alimony

The Georgia Supreme Court has held that a husband's portion of the undistributed estate of his deceased parents can be distributed as alimony. The court drew a distinction between expected inheritance from a living parent and expected inheritance from an undistributed estate. Under Georgia law, the court may consider but not award expected inheritance from a living parent. A court may actually award part of an expected inheritance from the undistributed estate of a deceased parent. You can read the opinion here. For more on the Georgia Supreme Court opinion, see this post from the Family Law Prof Blog.

Under Tennessee law, inheritance is considered separate property, not part of the marital estate -- but a court can still award one spouse's inheritance to the other as part of an award of alimony in solido. Blummer v. Blummer, 1995 WL 414872 (Tenn. Ct. App. July 14, 1995).