i have a few red bud tree seedlings to trade.

would love a red bud, I have mums, batchelor buttons, or maltese cross for trade

I also have some Wild Cherry tree seeds that I forgot to add to my trade list. :) Alicia

Looks pretty typical of redbud, to me. Is that a rock at the base, or another poorly attached branch that's on its way out? Probably, the best thing to do is cut that sucker at ground level and grind out the stump and replace it - or, let it re-grow - you'll get a myriad of shoots popping up; a year down the road, you can select the best one and prune the others off. Had one not too much unlike yours - though it hadn't completely fallen apart - that I augered a hole through, inserted a piece of threaded rod, and put a washer and nut on each end to pull and hold it together. That was easily 10-12 years ago - ordinarily I wouldn't do that, but it was one my son had planted, and it did have nice shape(if poor branching, with included bark). It's still going strong, but whenever it dies, I'll have to make sure no one hits that 'hardware' with the chainsaw. As bad as the split is on yours, I don't think I'd attempt a 'fix'.