What if I put the inheritance into our joint checking account, just for a couple days, while I opened the separate bank account?

In some states, it may be too late. Some courts and some cases have held that the simple act of placing of separate property into a joint account has changed it into marital property. Other states and courts are not so strict. If you can demonstrate that the funds were placed in the joint account strictly for banking purposes, or safekeeping, and that each were never intended to be used for marital purposes, and were never used for marital purposes, then the funds would still be considered separate.

The lesson here is that safest thing to do is to keep separate property separate, at all times. Please keep in mind that we have used inheritance as an example. Any money that you or your spouse had in an account prior to the marriage is initially separate as well.