Divorce is never an event that someone wants to think about during the excitement of an engagement. However, careful consideration should be given when one or both of the engaged persons have separate assets that may complicate property division if the marriage were to dissolve. Ohio residents expecting to tie the knot may enjoy the security of knowing that their personal or business assets could be protected from future difficulties tied to divorce.
One such avenue for protection can be found in developing a trust for your personal interests. Placing assets into a trust can effectively transfer ownership of property and even businesses on to the trust rather than the individual. Under certain circumstances this can protect these assets from being considered in future arrangements such as alimony.
It is extremely important to have a solid understanding of proper trust development, both before marriage and during divorce. Trusts have more than the ability to protect any assets you acquired before marriage. They may also protect any assets gained after divorce if lawsuits stemming from the separation happen to arise.
Liabilities exist everywhere. When married and in the process of filing for divorce, couples are still tied financially to another, and any number of circumstances can threaten the assets that one or both spouses earned prior to the union or even after the divorce. For example, a recent study shows that over 2.2 million people were injured in car accidents in 2010. Of all those unexpected incidences that caused an accident, it takes only one to wipe out years of savings and dreams if protections are not in place before they happen. A trust can help protect your assets from lawsuits.
During a divorce, both parties are seeking to protect themselves. Ohio residents could be ahead of these trappings by already having an established safeguard. Any time that property division must be considered in divorce, it is wise to be well-advised and legally protected.
Source: Forbes, “Can a Trust Protect My Assets in Divorce?” Jeff Landers, July 18, 2012