About one-third of all jurisdictions follow the all-property model of division, which permits division of gifts and inheritances, and even those states that do recognize active appreciation -- or even all appreciation -- is marital property. For these reasons, trusts become contentious in divorce actions.

In beneficiary from his own excesses; that is, the trust prohibits him or her from spending all the money that he or she is entitled to.

As a general rule, certain and definite interests in a trust are property, and may be subject to distribution in a divorce.

In most cases, a revocable trust is not property, because the interests under a revocable trust exist only at the sufferance of the settlor. This general rule applies in the divorces of both the settlor and the beneficiaries.

Irrevocable trusts create legal rights for the beneficiaries, and therefore they are property. In the settlor’s divorce, however, the trust is a third-party entity, and the assets cannot be touched by the divorce. For the beneficiary, the rights are divisible property.

A mandatory unconditional income interest in an irrevocable trust is property; discretionary income interests generally do not constitute property.

In jurisdictions that permit only the distribution of marital property, the income inheritance.

In most dual classification states, the manner of the acquisition of the principal -- that is gift or inheritance -- makes it separate property. In those jurisdictions where gifts and inheritances are marital property, however, the timing of the recipient of the principal can be very important.

One of the most difficult questions that arises in classifying interests in an irrevocable trust is whether or not a remainder interest is property. In general, a remainder interest, which is the right to receive the principal, is either vested or unvested. When it is vested, courts consider it certain and therefore property; when it is unvested, it uncertain and therefore not property.

Of course, a remainder jurisdiction.