Divorce: Make Sure You Address The College Savings Accounts

The most common types of college savings accounts are 529 accounts, UGMA, and UTMA accounts. When getting divorce it’s very important to understand who the actual owner is of these accounts and who has legal rights to access the money in those accounts.  Not addressing these accounts in the divorce agreement can lead to dire consequences for your children if your ex-spouse drains the college savings accounts for their own personal expenses. 

UGMA or UTMA Accounts

The owner of these types of accounts is the child. However, since a child is a minor there is a custodian assigned to the account, typically a parent, that oversees the assets until the child reaches age 21.  The custodian has control over when withdraws are made as long as it could be proven that the withdrawals being made a directly benefiting the child.   This can include school clothes, buying them a car at age 16, or buying them a computer. It’s important to understand that withdraws can be made for purposes other than paying for college which might be what the account was intended for.  You typically want to have your attorney include language in the divorce agreement that addresses what these account can and can not be used for.  Once the child reaches the age of majority, age 21, the custodian is removed, and the child has full control over the account.

529 accounts

When it comes to divorce, pay close attention to 529 accounts. Unlike a UGMA or UTMA accounts that are required to be used for the benefit of the child, a 529 account does not have this requirement. The owner of the account has complete control over the 529 account even though the child is listed as the beneficiary. We have seen instances where a couple gets divorced and they wrongly assume that the 529 account owned by one of the spouses has to be used for college.  As soon as the divorce is finalized, the ex-spouse that owns the account then drains the 529 account and uses the cash in the account to pay legal fees or other personal expenses.  If the divorce agreement did not speak to the use of the 529 account, there’s very little you can do since it’s technically considered an asset of the parent.

Divorce agreements can address these college saving accounts in a number of way.   For example, it could state that the full balance has to be used for college before out-of-pocket expenses are incurred by either parent. It could state a fixed dollar amount that has to be withdrawn out of the 529 account each year with any additional expenses being split between the parents.  There is no single correct way to address the withdraw strategies for these college savings accounts. It is really dependent on the financial circumstances of you and your ex spouse and the plan for paying for college for your children.

With 529 accounts there is also the additional issue of “what if the child decides not to go to college?” The divorce agreement should address what happens to that 529 account. Is the account balance move to a younger sibling?  Is the balance distributed to the child at a certain age?  Or will the assets be distributed 50-50 between the two parents?

Is for these reason that you should make sure that your divorce agreement includes specific language that applies to the use of the college savings account for your children

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About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.