One interesting phenomenon that you’ll notice if you look at divorce statistics is that the divorce rate is rising for those who are over 50 years old. Divorce cases involving people at this age are typically called gray divorces. The divorce rate for this age group has been climbing for years now and continues to do so.


This is surprising for a few reasons. For one thing, the divorce rate for other age groups has been falling, so gray divorce is clearly bucking that trend. The second thing that is surprising is that many of these are long-term marriages that may be ending after decades. This surprises people who assume that divorce will happen much more quickly, but it clearly shows that this is not always the case. Divorce can happen to anyone, at any age.

The role of second marriages

One thing to point out is that a lot of these divorce cases actually aren’t taking place after decades of marriage. It’s just that second marriages have a higher divorce rate than first marriages. Many people in second marriages fall into this age group, so their higher divorce rate tends to push the overall statistics upward.

Getting married later

It’s also worth noting that people tend to get married later these days than they did in the past. The median age of marriage for American men, for example, is 29.9. As the average age of a first marriage climbs, the average age of divorce is also potentially going to increase.

Starting your gray divorce 

One thing that is certain is that gray divorces can be very complicated, especially in a financial sense. Be sure you understand all of your legal options.