This paper aims to investigate whether a wealth endowment, such as an inheritance or a gift, can increase the chances of getting divorced, using Dutch panel data for the period from 2002 to 2016. According to the literature, different factors may lead to the breakdown of a marriage; however, the role played by inherited wealth has never been explored so far. Starting from the idea that the receipt of an inheritance might have an impact on various aspects of an individual’s life, estimations of a Cox proportional hazard ratios model are performed and tests are carried out to establish which variables, with particular attention being given to inherited wealth, act as drivers in increasing the chances of withdrawing from a marriage. The findings suggest that when the wealth endowment has been received by the wife, this increases the chances of the couple separating. This signals that receiving an inheritance/gift changes the bargaining power between the couple: for the husband, it does not represent an incentive to divorce, while the results suggest that the wife might perceive a change in the bargaining power, increasing the likelihood of marital disruption.

本文旨在使用 2002 年至 2016 年期间的荷兰面板数据，研究财富禀赋，例如遗产或礼物，是否会增加离婚的机会。 根据文献，不同的因素可能导致离婚婚姻；然而，迄今为止，人们从未探索过继承财富所起的作用。从接受继承可能对个人生活的各个方面产生影响的想法出发，进行了 Cox 比例风险比模型的估计，并进行了测试以确定哪些变量，特别注意继承的财富，充当增加退出婚姻机会的驱动因素。研究结果表明，当妻子收到财富禀赋时，这增加了夫妻分居的机会。这表明接受遗产/礼物改变了夫妻之间的讨价还价能力：对于丈夫来说，这并不代表离婚的动机，而结果表明妻子可能会感觉到讨价还价能力的变化，增加了结婚的可能性中断。