Divorce for the older couple will no doubt become a hot topic once again in the wake of the Chancellor's 2016 autumn statement, which outlines an imminent reduction to Money Purchase Annual Allowances. Perhaps of more interest to Channel Island couples are the statistics published last year by the Office of National Statistics which show that despite there being an overall decrease in the rate of divorce across most age groups in the UK compared with a decade ago, there was a marked increase in divorces involving those over fifty. A divorce for those in this age bracket have become so common that the nickname 'silver splitter' has emerged, which in some dictionaries even merits its own definition.
This is not just a UK based phenomenon. A recent survey from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers has found that 64% of their responding members reported an increase in the amount of divorce cases involving couples of more than 50 years of age. As yet there is no age specific report on the increase in over fifties divorces in the Channel Islands but my professional experience would suggest that the same trend is being seen here.
Article first published in Zenith magazine in January 2017
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