Divorce Rates Soaring Among Couples Over 50
With the baby boomer generation nearing retirement, divorce among older couples has spiked in recent years. In both marriage and divorce, these couples face challenges unique to their age set.
March 01, 2012
Divorce Rates Soaring Among Couples Over 50While the overall divorce rate in America has been in a steady decline for years, baby boomers have been ending their marriages in such record-breaking numbers recently that the phenomenon has its own name: grey divorce.
Over the past 20 years, the divorce rate among people over 50 has doubled. At the same time, divorce among the general population has dropped from 18.95 to 17.92 per 1000. The Orlando Sentinal quotes Susan L. Brown, co-director of the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, as saying that fewer than one in 10 people going through the divorce process in 1990 was over the age of 50. Now, she says, that number has increased to one in four.
Transition to Retirement Can Make Difficult Marriages Worse
Older couples sometimes find it difficult to adapt to the lifestyle changes that can accompany retirement. For instance, among couples in which one person is the primary breadwinner, the non-working spouse may have grown accustomed to spending time alone and may have trouble adapting when the retired spouse begins to spend more time at home.
In other cases, couples whose careers had kept them very busy may need to become reacquainted with each other when they retire, and in doing so they may discover that they are no longer compatible.
The prospect of retirement can also take an emotional toll on people whose careers played a major part in their sense of identify and satisfaction. For these individuals, retirement may trigger feelings of depression or aimlessness that can add further strain to a relationship.
Older Couples Face Different Legal Issues
In some ways, divorce can be simpler after 50 than earlier in life, since the divorcing couple's children are likely to be grown. However, while grey divorces are often free of the child support and custody issues that can complicate the process for younger couples, negotiating spousal support and dividing property can become more difficult as a couple approaches old age.
Because older couples often have more assets to divide and fewer remaining income-producing years ahead of them, the financial stakes of divorce after 50 can be quite high. With that in mind, people facing divorce later in life should contact an experienced divorce lawyer to guide them through each stage of the process.
Article provided by Law Offices of Grewal & Associates
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