In some ways, divorce is less complicated if you are in your 50s or 60s. After all, if you had children together, odds are that they’ve grown up and moved out of the house. A couple getting divorced in their 30s and 40s has to spend a lot of time thinking about their child custody rights and creating a co-parenting plan. But if you’re splitting up in your 60s, there’s likely no need to do any of this.
That said, there are other ways in which divorce can get more complicated at this age. Let’s take a look at two examples.
Splitting up retirement accounts
First of all, you may be closer to retirement at this age and you have more complicated financial assets. You may need to split up retirement accounts or pension plans using a qualified domestic relations order. You need to be very careful to consider your post-divorce budget and how the end of the marriage is going to impact your plans for the future. Couples often plan for retirement together, but that changes with a divorce.
High-value assets
On top of that, there’s a good chance that you have more valuable assets at this stage in life. You and your spouse could be joint business owners, meaning you need to determine how to address the family business. You may own real estate, stock investments and other complex assets. Younger couples sometimes feel that they essentially just need to divide their bank account, but you have a lot more to think about.
As you move through the divorce, take the time to carefully look into all of your legal options.
