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Before Marriage During Marriage Family Gifting YOUR WE ALTH JOURNEY—NAVIGATING LIFE’S FINANCIAL MILESTONESPlanning Your Assets in Case of a DivorceThese steps can help reduce financialrisk and preserve your family’s wealth Tailoring YourApproach Most people marry with the intention of a long and happy union and do notexpect to get divorced. Yet according to the CDC, more than 40 percent of firstmarriages ended in divorce.1 While it may seem unromantic or skeptical, acknowledging the possibility ofa divorce—and considering how to preserve and protect your family’s assetsand property—can help reduce financial risk, preserve your family’s wealth,and ensure that your assets go to the intended family members and recipients. This type of planning can also reduce the potential for family conflict in theevent of a divorce, while making the couple’s asset division process overallmore straightforward and less stressful. Here are some steps you can take before and during marriage to prepare forthe possibility of a divorce. Private WealthManagementwilliamblair.com Before Marriage During MarriageOnce you’re married, there are ways to continue to protect Before you get married, it’s important to consider strategiesthat can help preserve wealth and potentially protectcertain premarital assets, such as a business, inheritance,a second home, artwork, or jewelry. and preserve wealth and help ensure that your assets areproperly directed in the event of a divorce. Consider keeping accounts and assets separateCommingling accounts and retitling assets to create joint ownership will generally cause those assets to be consideredmarital property—and thus split in a divorce, following thestate’s distribution rules. While you may want, for example,your joint checking account commingled for practicalreasons, consider keeping any account separate that youhope to maintain full ownership of should the marriageend in divorce. Understand your state’s divorce rulesLaws regarding how property and assets are distributed after a divorce differ by state. Nine states have “community”property distribution where assets and debts are split 50-50; the rest use “equitable” distribution.2This stipulatesthat everything beyond certain gifts and inheritance mustbe split “fairly” but at the judge’s discretion based on factorssuch as each person’s income and job status. These marital property rules have major implications forwhat each spouse will receive in a divorce—unless othermeasures are taken that preempt them. Preserve the business When one spouse owns a business or is part of a familybusiness, special consideration should be made to minimizedisruption in case of a divorce—which can compromise abusiness’s operation. Consider a prenup A prenuptial agreement is a document that must be signedbefore marriage that lays out how assets and debts will bedivided should you divorce. Its terms will generally overrideyour state’s asset and property division laws. Most importantly, make sure to keep business assetsseparate from any personal assets; this includes not usingthe non-owner spouse’s income or assets to pay for anythingbusiness-related. A prenup can be especially useful when one or both spousesbring considerable assets or debt to a marriage or havechildren from a previous marriage. If you own a business orexpect to inherit shares of a family business, a prenup mayinclude terms that prevent you from having to forfeit a shareof ownership in the business or cause major disruption toyour business in the event of divorce. Putting the business in a trust or securing whole lifeinsurance that can be liquidated to pay out the non-owning spouse in event of a divorce are other commonstrategies used to protect a business or provide cash tobuy out a spouse. 2www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/which-states-are-community-property-states-in-divorce Private WealthManagementwilliamblair.com Family Gifting Look at a postnuptial agreementA postnuptial agreement is signedaftera couple is married to protect certain large financial gifts. For example, parentswho provide funds for their daughter and son-in-law to buya home can choose to do so on the condition that the home istitled in their daughter’s name only. Extended family and others who make significant giftsor are planning to leave an inheritance may also want totake steps to ensure that those gifts are directed to theintended recipients. Explore effective giving strategiesHow assets and money are gifted to a married couple or their child can affect whether those gifts become maritalproperty. For example, grandparents who want to help payfor their grandchildren’s education and want to protectthose gifts in the case of a divorce may want to considerpaying for expenses directly to the educational institutionsince gifts made to a 529 college-savings plan or a custodialaccount, such as a UTMA or UGMA, are technicallymarital assets. Keep in mind that courts often apply more scrutiny t