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Trends in retirement - gray divorce

2 minutes

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Increasing life spans are having another surprising effect on life’s major decisions; divorce later in life.

​While the number of divorces among younger couples is dropping, for nearly three decades it has doubled for couples over 50, spurring experts to coin the term "gray divorce".

Longevity is the catalyst

Older women in less than perfect marriages who realize they have plenty of years ahead them are often the ones initiating the divorce, reports ThinkAdvisor.com.

Women baby boomers and the so-called war babies, the generation born just before the baby boom that began in 1946, are also rethinking their lives because they have the capability to stay in employment longer, again due to longer life spans.

Major life decisions such as getting a divorce or buying a house are no longer choices older women are shying away from because many believe they could possibly have decades of life ahead of them.

Second marriages often less durable

The higher rate of divorce among over 50s can also be blamed on the fact that many of these marriages are second marriages, which have a higher rate of failure than first marriages. However, statistics show that over half of first marriages are falling prey to this trend, too.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/09/led-by-baby-boomers-divorce-rates-climb-for-americas-50-population/

Financial consequences can be tricky

Despite the prospect that increased longevity offers, there are pitfalls to divorcing late in life and it is important to sign on with the right advisor for each individual situation.

Experienced financial advisors in gray divorce situations recommend that the spouse who has fewer financial buffers and fewer prospects in their working life hire an advisor as early on in the process as possible.

Using the same advisor for both spouses is also not recommended.

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