Divorce on the rise for over 60s
9th June 2010 by: David Lillywhite
Last year, two pensioners from Hertfordshire set a new world record for being the oldest couple to divorce. Both parties had been married for 36 years and were 98 when they separated. Despite divorce rates being at their lowest for 26 years, for one particular demographic, the over-60s, this trend is in reverse.
In 1997, 9,052 couples aged over 60 divorced. This figure had increased to 13,678 couples by 2007. David Pinless, a director of FiftyAlready.com, an online dating agency for the over-fifties, has seen a huge increase in the traffic to his website in the past few years, saying; “When the children have left home and retirement looms, being with your husband or wife becomes a full-time occupation and the relationship is going to go one way or the other. This is nothing new – but what is new is that this has just started happening to the baby boomer generation. These are the people who invented free love, smoked pot and wore flowers in their hair. They simply aren’t going to stay together for appearance’s sake”
Christine Northam of Relate, often sees much older couples trying to reconcile with one another or deal with the fallout of a broken marriage at such an advanced stage of life. She says; “Many have gone back to work and have a wider view of the world. They think, ‘This marriage may have been what I needed at 25, but it’s not what I need now’”
Increasingly, older couples want to make their separation as stress-free as possible. Although they are many options available to them, Collaborative Law is a relatively new method of dispute resolution that encourages couples to resolve matters in a non-confrontational way without the underlying threat of litigation. By working together with their legal advisors, couples can negotiate a settlement through a series of meetings between the parties, with everyone at the table working towards a mutually-beneficially outcome.
One of the benefits of this progressive practice is that it can be used to facilitate agreement on a broad range of other matters, such as disputes involving children. Couples appreciate not being driven by a court time-table which allows the process to be flexible and adapt rapidly to any change in circumstances or priorities for the parties.
In 1997, 9,052 couples aged over 60 divorced. This figure had increased to 13,678 couples by 2007. David Pinless, a director of FiftyAlready.com, an online dating agency for the over-fifties, has seen a huge increase in the traffic to his website in the past few years, saying; “When the children have left home and retirement looms, being with your husband or wife becomes a full-time occupation and the relationship is going to go one way or the other. This is nothing new – but what is new is that this has just started happening to the baby boomer generation. These are the people who invented free love, smoked pot and wore flowers in their hair. They simply aren’t going to stay together for appearance’s sake”
Christine Northam of Relate, often sees much older couples trying to reconcile with one another or deal with the fallout of a broken marriage at such an advanced stage of life. She says; “Many have gone back to work and have a wider view of the world. They think, ‘This marriage may have been what I needed at 25, but it’s not what I need now’”
Increasingly, older couples want to make their separation as stress-free as possible. Although they are many options available to them, Collaborative Law is a relatively new method of dispute resolution that encourages couples to resolve matters in a non-confrontational way without the underlying threat of litigation. By working together with their legal advisors, couples can negotiate a settlement through a series of meetings between the parties, with everyone at the table working towards a mutually-beneficially outcome.
One of the benefits of this progressive practice is that it can be used to facilitate agreement on a broad range of other matters, such as disputes involving children. Couples appreciate not being driven by a court time-table which allows the process to be flexible and adapt rapidly to any change in circumstances or priorities for the parties.
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