Your Finances May Not Be Rosy After Gray Divorce

Divorce rates are decreasing, even after you account for the fact that marriage rates have also been getting lower in recent years. Fewer people get married, and the ones that do are likely to stay married. The age group accounting for an ever-larger share of divorce cases is couples over age 50. Some participants in the phenomenon of gray divorce have known for years that their relationships with their spouses were beyond repair, but they did not want to cause more stress and disruption in their children’s lives, so they did not divorce until their children were grown up. In other cases, the spouses simply become aware of how little time they have left on earth, and they want to spend their old age in a situation where their spouse and in-laws cannot dictate all their decisions. Only you and your spouse can decide whether ending your marriage as you approach retirement is the right decision, but you should be prepared for the financial setbacks that await anyone who gets divorced, regardless of age. For help negotiating a fair division of marital property if you divorce after a long marriage, contact a Mississauga family lawyer.

You Can Keep Part of the Marital Property, but You Can Only Rely On Yourself After the Court Divides Your Property

Property division is more complicated the longer the couple has been married, because people who have been married to each other since they were young are unlikely to own much separate property. For many couples, the marital home is the most valuable thing they own. There may not be any disagreement about which spouse should keep the house, but he or she must pay the other spouse an equalizing payment for part of the house’s value, unless the other spouse keeps something else valuable, like the couple’s savings account, in its entirety. The result is that both spouses come away feeling poorer, even if the divorce case does not go to trial.

After your gray divorce, you should adjust your expectations about a prosperous retirement. Retirement savings accounts can be marital assets, but if your ex-spouse has more money saved for retirement than you do, then the only choices are that you get part of the retirement account or that you get none of it. You might decide to stay in the workforce longer than you originally planned, so you can accumulate some retirement savings of your own. If a sticking point in your marriage was that your spouse sacrificed marital happiness in pursuit of financial prosperity, then your more modest lifestyle might bring you the peace of mind that you could never find during your marriage.

Contact Zagazeta Garcia LLP About Property Division in Gray Divorce

A family lawyer can help you achieve a fair division of marital property in family court mediation if you and your spouse get a divorce after decades of marriage.  Contact Zagazeta Garcia LLP in Mississauga, Ontario to discuss your case.

Source:

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