Ending your marriage brings drastic changes to your life along with many new considerations. The term “grey divorce” has been recently coined to describe those couples in their senior years who have been married for several decades. If you are one, you should be aware of certain issues that are especially relevant to a grey divorce.
Later in life divorces have been on the rise for some time now. According to Forbes, 1 in 4 people over the age of 50 in 2019 were divorcing, compared to 1 in 10 back in 1990. While there are always things to figure out when dissolving a marriage, there are particular matters relevant to a grey divorce that you should focus on during this difficult period.
A major issue facing older divorcing couples is insurance. This affects both health and life insurance. If you have been solely on your partner’s health insurance policy, this terminates upon dissolution of the marriage. Given the high cost of medical care, the monthly price of a new policy may be a major expense that needs to be factored into your financial position. Also, in all likelihood your spouse may name a new beneficiary to his or her life insurance policy, unless you can agree in writing to have it remain in place.
Like most senior couples, you probably did not write up a prenuptial agreement before you got married. Therefore, you and your spouse must make some decisions about how to divide up the assets that you share. While your primary residence is undoubtedly one of, if not the biggest, asset, you may also have significant resources such as a secondary home, luxury cars, expensive possessions and valuable artwork. After so many years, there are often sentimental and emotional attachments to these possessions which can make division difficult.
