Residents in California who are getting divorced often struggle with how to split their marital estate. Losing any amount of their shared assets can be hard but some research is now showing that the impact may be quite severe for some people, especially for couples who get divorced in their 50s, 60s or beyond.
When a married couple over 50 splits up, the event is referred to as a gray divorce in reference to the typical graying of one’s hair at this stage of life. Gray divorce can be a serious financial event for people as they have fewer years left to work and to recoup any losses they incurred during their divorce. However, it seems that divorce at any age can leave people at risk of experiencing poverty later on.
According to Yahoo Finance, a sociologist at Bowling Green State University has conducted research into the poverty rates among people aged 63 and older. Among men and women divorced after 50 or before 50 and never remarried, the poverty rates were significantly higher than among people who were never divorced or who divorced but subsequently remarried. Remarried or continuously married people had poverty rates between 3.1% and 3.4%.
The poverty rate for men divorced before 50 was 10.7%. For men divorced after 50, the poverty rate was slightly higher at 11.4%. Women who were divorced prior to reaching the age of 50 had a poverty rate of 18.6%. Women who were divorced in their 50s or later had the highest poverty rate of all at 26.9%. These facts highlight the importance of working with an experienced attorney when getting divorced to help protect one’s future.
