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Divorce Calculator shows odds your marriage will last

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Filed under: Extracurriculars

Marriage may be hard work, but divorce can be financially cataclysmic. Can't happen to you,? That kind of denial is one reason that divorce brings about economic disaster, since planning for that eventuality seems disloyal. Nonetheless, 43% of first marriages in the U.S. end within 15 years, according to the CDC. One in five will end within five years, one in three with ten years.

The statistics vary according to a number of variables, and divorce360.com has created a Marriage Calculator (which I'd call a divorce calculator) that, based on the averages taken from census data, will give you odds on your marriage lasting. Enter gender, date of marriage, education, age when married, and number of years married to calculate the estimate.

Latest Celebrity Divorces

    Blake Fielder-Civil and Amy Winehouse
    Divorcing | 17 months
    After several rehab attempts (for both), drug videos (of her) and a jail stint (him), the 'Rehab' starlet tells News of the World her erratic marriage "is over."

    Getty Images

    Ivana Trump and Rossano Rubicondi
    Divorcing | 7 months
    Trump confirms a swirl of rumors, saying she filed for legal separation three months after marrying the Italian businessman in April of 2008.

    Getty Images

    Jodie Sweetin and Cody Herpin
    Divorcing | 16 months
    Almost making it to their 1.5 year anniversary, the ex-'Full House' starlet files divorce papers.

    Getty Images

    Paris Hilton and Benji Madden
    Split | 9 Months
    Just a month after Madden tells PEOPLE he's head over heels, Paris has let the Good Charlotte guitarist go.

    David Livingston, Getty Images

    Sharon Stone and Chase Dreyfous
    Split | 5 Months
    Hollywood cougar Stone cooled her relationship with Dreyfous, 26 years her junior, after ex-husband Phil Bronstein successfully questioned her parenting skills during a custody hearing over their son, Roan.

    Jean Baptiste Lacroix, WireImage

    A.J. DiScala and Jamie-Lynn Sigler
    Divorced | 3 Years
    Sigler and DiScala divorced in 2006 after a short marriage and now the 27-year-old actress says she's "glad" they didn't have kids.

    Vince Bucci, Getty Images

    Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood
    Split | Dating Almost 2 years
    The pair ended their relationship to focus on their careers.

    John Shearer, WireImage

    Sienna Miller and Balthazar Getty
    Split | Dating Almost 4 months
    After setting a gossip firestorm with pics of a topless Sienna kissing married Balthazar, the couple has ended their scandalous romance.

    Getty Images (2)

    Eric Cubiche and Jaime Pressly
    Separated | Three Years
    The 'My Name Is Earl' starlet and her fiance are "taking a break" from their relationship, but remain committed to raising their son, Dezi James, together.

    Getty Images

    Danny Bonaduce and Gretchen
    Split | 16 Years
    Danny Bonaduce's wife Gretchen filed for divorce in 2007 and cited irreconcilable differences. He has now agreed to pay $16,000 a month in child support and alimony.

    Getty Images

For example:

  • If you are a male high-school dropout married after 1980, at the age of 20 or younger, and have been married for five years --13% of people with your background have already divorced, and 26% will be divorced over the next five years.
  • If you are a female without children married after 1980 with a high school diploma who was 22 to 24 at the time of your marriage and have been married two years so far -- 2% of those with similar backgrounds have divorced already, and 13% more will do so over the next five years.
  • Female with kids, married 1960-1979, college grad, married at 23 or 24, and have been married now for 30 years-- 28% of those sharing your background have already divorced, and 2% more will divorce over the next five years.

I'm pleased to report that 0% of those sharing my background will divorce in the next five years.

Of course, these are very coarse projections, but if you are in a category with high divorce rates, you might want to learn a little more about why marriages fail so you can head off possible destructive conflicts.

Read more:

Five steps for cleaning up your credit after a divorce

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