Divorce Over 50: Be Prepared
Americans have a weird view of older people — we seem to think that once you’ve surpassed middle age, you’ve “settled in” and whatever circumstances you live in are the ones you’re going to be content with for the rest of your life. Anyone who has elected for a divorce past the age of 50 knows better: getting older doesn’t deprive you of a vibrant and rich emotional life, and that can certainly include the realization that you and your partner don’t offer each other the support that you once did.
Unfortunately, the closer you get to retirement age, the more difficult it can be to resolve the financial issues that come with a divorce. There are a lot of issues surrounding pensions, taxes, investment, and businesses — as well as “simpler” but harder-to-escape issues of income and budgeting for the less wealthy divorcees — that must be addressed during a divorce. Some of them are all but impossible to understand without a financial advisor, and all but impossible to deal with unless you have a Family Law attorney on your side.
In addition, older folks tend to have more time invested in the failing relationship, which can mean stronger emotional responses to the idea of a divorce. It’s often hard for someone who has been living with the same person for thirty years or more to understand that you don’t divorce your spouse — you divorce the entirely new person that your spouse became the moment the divorce decree was filed.
Also, there are the added complications that adult children and grandchildren can bring to the table. They might not have a direct effect on the divorce proceedings according to the letter of the law, but failing to take their feelings and input into account can profoundly alter your relationship with those people for the rest of your life.
Finally, you have the simple fact that, once you turn 50, you had very well better be planning for a long-term scenario. A divorce proceeding, unfortunately, has a tendency to focus all involved on the short and near-medium terms: it’s easy to make it all about what happens tomorrow and what might happen in the year or so after the divorce. That’s why it’s always useful to have an experienced attorney, at the minimum, at your side through the entire divorce process: so they can keep you focused on the priorities that are going to matter after you’ve figured out what your life is going to look like tomorrow.
That’s why, if you’re approaching or over 50 and considering a divorce, we urge you to call Gucciardo Family Law at 248-723-5190 and get a lawyer with experience, empathy, and your best interests at heart.
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