On behalf of Cobert, Haber & Haber Attorneys at Law posted in Divorce on Thursday, February 18, 2016.
While most New Yorkers who marry do so without thinking they will later divorce, many marriages do come to an end. A study of census data from 2013 as compared to 1980 and 1960 shows changing trends in the ages at which people divorce in greater numbers.
The study compared long-form U.S. Census Bureau data from 1960 and 1980 with data released by the Minnesota Population Center’s Integrated Public Microdata Sample project for 2013. In 2013, the data showed that by age 30, around 12 percent of people had been through a divorce. By age 59, 42 percent of them were divorced or were in subsequent marriages, and 43 percent of 59-year-olds were still in their first marriages.
In comparison, much greater numbers of people in their 20s were divorced in both 1960 and 1980 compared to those in 2013. However, among people who were over age 40, both of the earlier time periods showed significantly lower percentages of people who had been divorced than their cohorts in 2013.
The data from this study demonstrates the trend for more people to choose to divorce when they get older than in earlier times. When people do decide to divorce when they are older, they may have significantly more complex issues involved with asset and property division. In many cases, people may have spent years saving for retirement and accumulating real property and other assets. Their finances may also be very intertwined with those of their spouses. People who are wanting to divorce and that have amassed substantial assets may need to get help from a family law attorney in order to understand the potential tax consequences of proposed settlement agreements.
