By: John Stibbe, SVP Eastern ND Trust Manager

The good news is the divorce rate in the United States is going down.  Baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, tended to get married young.  Being married at a young age has historically been a factor in the success of a marriage.  The trend is to get married when you are a little bit older.  In a 2018 “TIME” article, they indicate the median age for men to get married is now 30 and 28 for women. 

Even though divorce rates are going down, the long-term success rate for a marriage is a 59% chance of not getting a divorce, or a 41% chance of divorce.  Second marriages have a 60% chance of divorce and 73% for third marriages.

Protecting your child’s and biological grandchildren’s assets from divorce can be effectively achieved with a trust.  In many cases, your married child may receive an inheritance and commingle those funds with the marital assets of the couple.  This effectively merges the inherited assets into the marital estate and it no longer has any type of protection from divorce.  However if the child’s inheritance is set up in a trust it will be protected from the divorce.  In addition, in the case of a blended family the trust can be there to help the inheritance get to your grandchildren.

Other benefits of a trust include the protection from other creditors.  How many times have you heard of a married couple’s assets decimated by the act of one spouse?  Whether it is alcohol, drugs or bad money management the result is a financial disaster.  Protecting your child’s inheritance from divorce and creditors will leave you with the peace of mind the assets you worked hard to accumulate will be there for your children and grandchildren.