Divorce Later In Life

More and more people are waiting until much later in life before deciding to divorce. When people are in their 70s or older, and have been married for 40 or more years, people often wonder why now? According to studies and research on this issue, one of the main contributing factors to the rise in late in life divorce is retirement. When people retire, they have different ideas than their spouse about what to do with their new found freedom. People basically state that just because they have been married for quite some time doesn't mean that they shouldn't get divorced when the marriage is no longer a happy one. While people have much more to lose when they divorce someone they have been married to for over 20 years, there is a growing trend for couples to move on, regardless of the effect it will have on their finances and their grown children. An even more surprising fact is that it is the women divorcing the men. The myth that men trade in their wife for a younger version once they become "middle-aged" has less and less merit with each and every passing day.

While divorce at any age is life-changing, it is even more so for these couples who have spent their entire adult lives with one another. Not only is it life-changing for the couple, it also has a profound affect on adult children. Whether or not this trend will continue through the next generation is still up for discussion. Needless to say, the fact that 50% of all marriages end in divorce is a statistic that is not solely for people in the 30s and 40s.