When the names of one or both parents are on an account established in trust for the children, the courts in a divorce must decide if the parents hold the account beneficially for themselves or only as trustees for their child. If the funds have been used for other purposes (if the parents, for example, have used them for estate.

An account titled under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) is probably the children’s property. The UTMA superseded the UGMA, and it establishes a custodial relationship between the adult and the minor child that terminates when he or she achieves a majority.

The presence of the children’s names on the account supports an argument that the accounts are the property of the children, but the real issue turns on a question of whether the funds are what has been termed a "complete gift to the children."

Totten trusts are marital property.

Courts recognize that gifts to fraud or dissipation, even when the grantor retains some control of them.

In general, party is not valid unless both spouses agree to it. In equitable distribution jurisdictions, either spouse may make gifts from the martial estate until the marriage breaks down.

See also Dissipation of Assets.