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Attorneys Vic Hill and Brad MacDonald

Tips for late-in-life divorce, part one

Earlier this year, we wrote a Georgia family law blog post about the increasingly-common trend that is referred to in the media as “gray divorce.” In that earlier post, we reported that, although the divorce rate has generally stabilized over the past 20 years, the rate for people over the age of 50 has actually doubled during that time period.

As we stated in that previous family law blog post, the increased divorce rate among baby boomers was most likely caused by the ongoing shift in attitudes toward marriage and divorce. Throughout the past few decades, divorce has become more socially acceptable at any point in life. Further, the average life expectancy has increased, and people over 50 can now expect to live for several more decades, during which time they want to be happily married. As such, divorce will likely become even more common among members of the baby boomer generation in the coming years.

One drawback of a late-in-life divorce is that the divorcing spouses have less time to recover financially before they retire. Recently, the Huffington Post published a list of financially-focused tips for people who are going through a gray divorce. We will discuss those tips below.

First, you should be aware of your finances while you are still married. In many of today’s marriages, regardless of the spouse’s ages, one person in the household tends to manage the financial situation while the other is completely in the dark. Before filing for divorce, make sure that you have a working knowledge of all accounts and obligations, both joint and individual, and that you have access to all funds. Know your household’s monthly income and expenses and how your bills are paid.

We will continue this discussion in our next blog post.

Source: Huffington Post, “Coping With A Grey Divorce,” Lubov Stark, Esq., Nov. 20, 2012