Exploding. Booming.
Financial planner, divorce analyst and family law commentator Stacy Francis employs those terms and additionally similar descriptors to the phenomenon of so-called “gray divorce” in a recent article.
Actually, and as measured by virtually any yardstick, pulling the divorce trigger hardly spells something truly new for the expansive baby boomer demographic. Francis’ Kiplinger piece duly notes vetted research underscoring that “the divorce rate has roughly doubled since the 1990s for American adults aged 50 and older.”
Indeed, if there is a distinctly notable takeaway regarding boomer decouplings, it is that they are consistently on the rise commensurate with a falling divorce rate for the younger Millennial crowd.
Why is that?
Francis points to broad-based data spelling “a host of societal factors” that materially influence constant divorce interest and activity in 50-plus spouses nationally, especially women. Here are some key catalysts:
- A less judging mindset across the country concerning marital dissolution than in prior times, which gives women “more freedom to walk away from a less-than-ideal or emotionally draining situation”
- Comparatively longer life expectancy for women, which makes a growing number of unhappy female spouses willing to end a failed union and contemplate a lengthy future marked by upsides
- Kids now grown; many wives stick with unhappy marriages until children have matured in the belief that family union – even if marked mostly by downsides – is desirable to maintain
- Repercussions spawned by COVID’s reign (a “perfect storm” of marital ending discontent is cited relative to interconnected factors like income/job loss and relentlessly close confines not allowing for separate spousal routines)
Francis duly notes that boomer-aged divorcing women often face some stark financial challenges following the end of a marriage. A proven and empathetic family law legal team can help a client address money-tied issues and implement a post-divorce financial strategy that optimally promotes economic security.
