Less than one-third of all women between the ages of 20 and 24 were single in 1960; today almost 50% are. And men, on average, don't marry until they are at least 27 years old. The Census Bureau, which compiles statistics such as these, also reports the average marriage lasts some eight years.

        So, with the data pointing toward a divorce demographic of older people reaching their higher earning power, it's no wonder trusts are more and more being put in place to guard premarital assets. The trusts are even garnering their own name. They're called "prenup trusts."

        They work like this: Someone designates that his or her assets be housed in a trust, which is essentially an agreement that stipulates the "corpus," or all the property assigned to it, is sole and separate. This is further distinguished because the property is held in title by a "trustee." The trust is then managed by that third party, and sole ownership is provided to the beneficiary, in this case the designee.

        The result is that no other party can in the future lay claim to the underlying property, assuming the right types of trusts, as well as terms and conditions (plus the locales where the trust is set up) are used. But the idea is to protect assets whose ownership value could become murky.

        "Trusts define the lines of where who owns what and protect an asset in cases where that may not be clear during marriage," says Joann Palumbo, an estate planner with The Private Client Group of Blank Rome LLP in New York. "With concerns of protecting inheritances and other assets accumulated before marriage growing, trusts are becoming extremely popular."

        Asset delineation is more important these days because of things like home appreciation. For example, if a man inherits a second home from his parents and then gets married and the wife helps to fix up the house, the valuation gets blurred. States, of course, have specific rules concerning what's considered common property and the divvying of marital assets. Trusts facilitate those laws because they prove sole ownership. (Palumbo still recommends a prenuptial agreement be executed even if trusts are in place.)

        Moreover, prenup trusts can be devised at any point up until marriage and don't have to be signed by the other party, meaning they don't have to dampen the festivities surrounding engagement.

        Prenuptial agreements, on the other hand, too often get pushed aside in the name of love. It's later, after the marriage -- nay divorce proceedings -- when the hard rules of law count most. Then, it's emotions that get pushed aside.

        (On a personal note, my divorce attorney kept a baseball with the following inscription mounted on his desk: I Play Hardball. And his first rule: "I take the emotion out of it.")

        Sure, the No. 1 thing people argue most about in marriage is money. And with the number of millionaires in the U.S. rising about 40% since 1997, according to the Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini study on wealth in America, it stands to reason that more millionaires are just as (or more) concerned about splitting their assets as they are about splitting up.

        By now, divorce is such a common occurrence and part of our culture that planning for it shouldn't come with shock and awe. Putting financial concerns to paper premarriage, not post rice paper, just makes sense.

        Of course, we've all seen, heard, experienced or read about divorce horrors and the inevitable battles that ensue. It isn't easy planning for it, especially when high hopes abound at the outset of marriage.

        One way to avoid the unpleasantness is to embrace "trust" in a financial form before it's breached in the relationship arena.

        Prenup trusts could turn out to be one less thing for couples to fight over ... Nah, but at least the trust will be its owner's to break.