Divorce is certainly common in the United States and much of the modern world. People will often say that half of all marriages end in divorce. This may not be perfectly true in a statistical sense, but it does help to show that divorce is just the norm for a lot of couples.
However, it may surprise you exactly who those couples are. One thing that has been found recently is that those between 50 and 70 years old are getting divorced at an increased rate. This is happening as the divorce rates for other age brackets continue to fall. The growing gulf between the two shows that older couples are getting divorced so much more, but why is this happening?
The children are independent
One reason is that people in their 50s and 60s may have waited for their children to move out of the house. Once the children were independent and living alone, they felt free to get divorced because it wouldn’t have a negative impact on them.
Similarly, some couples get to be empty-nesters and realize that they are no longer used to being married. What happened is that the two of them really focused on being good parents, but their own relationship faded away at the same time.
Finally, there are those who have pointed to increasing life expectancy. As people live longer, will we see the divorce rate for older age groups continue to rise? it is logical that some of these couples would grow apart, given the extra years, and that they may have their own ways they want to spend retirement.
If you’re in this age group and you are getting divorced, you know that it’s complicated, especially financially. Be sure you know exactly what steps you need to take.