No matter how hard it may be to imagine, the divorce rate among older couples is skyrocketing. We are not talking couples in their early 50s splitting up because the kids have left for college and they realize they don’t have much in common. We are not even talking about people in their late 50s adjusting to the stress of having a college graduate move back home. Instead, we are talking about individuals in their 60s and older also known as grey divorce.
At this point in life, most divorcing couples are not focused on winning child custody or securing sufficient child support. Instead, they are looking to divorce attorneys to help them navigate a divorce settlement that will give them enough to make it through retirement. Older couples who are contemplating divorce likely don’t want to spend more time working because of a sudden loss of income.
And with the divorce rate among people 60 to 65 increasing threefold since 1990 and fivefold for people over the age 65, this concept of retirement after divorce is an important one. What complicates this is that many of the individuals have divorced or are divorcing a second, third or subsequent spouse. This means individuals may be getting portions of several different spouses’ retirement benefits.
Trying to negotiate a fair division of property can be difficult in Pennsylvania, especially because the one clue attorneys have to go on is that the division must be equitable. What exactly does that mean? Does it mean that a husband should get half of his soon-to-be ex-wife’s retirement accounts? Does it mean that someone divorcing her third husband should get a portion of all of her hubands’ retirement account? By working with a family law attorney, many of those questions can be answered.
Source: Time, “Divorce Watch: Couples of All Ages Are Less Stable Than Ever,” Belinda Luscombe, March 31, 2014
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