Can Your Survive a Divorce After 50?

As a Raleigh Divorce Attorney I can tell you that most people, when they think of divorce, often associate the dissolution of a marriage with younger couples, those in their 20s, 30s or 40s. Surprisingly, the National Center for Family & Marriage Research recently reported the divorce rate for individuals over the age of 50 doubled in the period between 1990 and 2014.

Individuals over the age of 65 need to be even more concerned, as their divorce rate tripled during this same time period. In fact, divorce later in life now has its own term-gray divorce. What does this mean for the parties involved?

Many couples find it difficult to save for retirement when there are children in the home. When their children do leave, however, they find they no longer have anything in common and wish to split. In this situation, a person finds they have less time to save for retirement and they are dividing any assets they do have, meaning each party has less.

Couples need to carefully look at all means of income in the future and determine how to split any assets held as a couple to ensure both parties can be self-sustaining in the future.

Dependent spouses often find they are unable to keep the family home following a divorce. They may have spent their married years caring for the home or focusing less on building their career and more on raising a family.

For this reason, the expense of maintaining a home and possibly paying a monthly mortgage payment is often more than some can handle.

Each partner in a divorce must ensure they update beneficiaries on all financial documents, especially retirement accounts. Courts often side with a named beneficiary even when a person’s will changes who is to receive the funds.

A family may be shocked to discover money they thought they were entitled to as outlined in a person’s will actually goes to another party, as the deceased did not change the named beneficiary on the necessary documents.

Can a couple avoid issues and surprises such as this? The answer is yes, especially with the assistance of an experienced Raleigh Family Attorney. Both parties should obtain an education, when possible, to ensure each has a means of providing for themselves in the future.

Additionally, couples need to engage in financial planning and update this plan regularly throughout their life together. This helps to ensure that a divorce doesn’t have a significant negative impact on either party, if the relationship breaks down in the future.

Finally, both partners in a marriage should be knowledgeable about their finances and understand how to manage them. This will be of great help in the event of a divorce.

Divorce cases are very complex, especially when couples come to the table with children, assets and debt, among other things.

Kurtz & Blum, PLLC understands there are two sides to every story and two partners in every relationship. Furthermore, divorce brings with it a lot of emotions. We bring our knowledge and experience to every case we handle to help those going through a difficult time.

Regardless of what stage in life you are in, the experienced divorce attorneys at Kurtz & Blum, PLLC are here to help you navigate this event in life and move forward on your own in the best way possible.