Q: While I was married my ex and I set up accounts for our grandkids so they would have money for college.
As soon as divorce was finalized, my ex went and closed out my one grandson's account and took it all. The child is 3 1/2 years old and we had a 50/50 split on all finances. My son, the father of this grandson, will not speak to his father so he did it out of spite. Can I do anything to try and get at least my half back for my grandson?
A:
Exactly what kind of account was set up for this child? Was the child's social security number used for the account? If it was a proper UGTMA account, then no one would have any rights to the account - EXCEPT the child. In this situation, you would have no claim to 50% of the funds, There could be Internal Revenue Code implications if someone just pocketed the money.
If it was not a proper UGTMA account, then it could still be argued that you gifted your 50% to the child and that the funds were no longer part of the marital estate (and therefore subject to division).
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