When couples get divorced later in life, it is often referred to as gray divorce. These are usually couples who are in their 50s or 60s, or potentially even older. In recent years, their divorce rates have been hitting record highs, while the divorce rate for younger Americans has been going down.
Because of this trend, researchers have started looking into the potential reasons why this happens. Here are three examples.
A changing stigma
For one thing, researchers note that the stigma around divorce is much lower than it used to be. Most people no longer think of it as socially or culturally taboo. As a result, many of these older couples may have considered divorce a few decades ago and not felt comfortable doing it – but now they do.
The children are independent
Once the children move out of the house, couples have more time for themselves. But some couples discover that they’ve actually been drifting apart, perhaps for years. The children were just distracting and so they didn’t notice that their own relationship was deteriorating. But once the children are independent and live on their own, these relationship issues become clear.
Different plans for the future
Finally, some couples just have a different idea of what they want for the last 20 or 30 years of their life. Maybe one person wants to travel while the other wants to stay home. Maybe one partner wants to retire and the other just plans to continue working. When future plans don’t align, couples sometimes get divorced.
It can be complex to go through a gray divorce, especially from a financial perspective. Take the time to carefully look into your legal options.