What Complications Does A Divorce Bring Later In Life?

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A divorce, whether it’s early on in the marriage or later in life, is the same from a procedural standpoint. From a complication standpoint, it’s probably more complicated when the parties are older. They’ve likely been married for a longer period of time and don’t know what single life is all about. They may have a fear of being single and of what lies ahead, from a financial standpoint. When you are married for a long time, you accumulate some wealth during those years of marriage. People are probably afraid of what their life is going to look like when they are not with their spouse. Procedurally, it’s all the same but I think it’s probably more emotional later in life.

What Financial Issues May Arise Divorcing Later In Life?

Divorcing later in life includes financial matters that need to be resolved. If both the husband and wife are retired, we are probably not talking about an alimony case. The financial issues are probably more along the lines of how to divide up the assets that they have accumulated during their marriage. In Nebraska, assets are generally divided 50/50. The law says they are to be divided equitably. In practice, that usually means 50/50. We would look at the financial assets of the parties and at debts if they have any.

How Common Is Spousal Support In a Divorce Later In Life?

Spousal support or alimony would not be common later in life when both parties are retired and don’t have an income source other than investment income or social security. As long as both parties are retired, we are not likely to see any alimony. If one of the parties is still employed, then it is possible that there could be some alimony, but it would have to be a pretty significant income to trigger alimony later in life.

How Might Business Interests Be Divided In a Divorce Later In Life?

If there is a family business, we would divide that asset later in life the same way we would early in life. Basically, we look at the business interest, determine what the value of that business interest is, and then one party or the other is going to retain that interest. If the husband is going to retain that business, we would determine the value and then the husband would be required to pay the wife 50% of the value of that business. Later in life, this could cause a problem if there isn’t enough time to pay that asset value over time. Perhaps there is not enough cash to make a lump sum payment, so you would be looking at a payment stream to pay out the value of the other spouse’s interest.

What Happens To Marital Assets Of Older People Who Are Getting Divorced?

The assets that are accumulated during the marriage, if an older couple is getting divorced, would be divided equitably, as the law in Nebraska requires. That generally means 50/50 or equal division of those assets. We take the retirement assets and then divide them in half. We want to make sure that the wife and husband each have 50% of the retirement assets. All of the other assets would be valued and then we’d divide those equally as well.

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