"Gray divorce" is a term researchers use for divorce among people age 50 or older. It has become markedly more common in recent decades. Research from Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research found that the divorce rate among people age 65 and older nearly tripled between 1990 and 2022, rising from about 5 percent to about 15 percent of divorces, and that roughly 1 in 10 people divorcing in the United States today is 65 or older.
Why gray divorce has become more common
Researchers have pointed to a few contributing factors. Longer life expectancy means more years of marriage during which a divorce can still occur, and a large share of gray divorces involve second or later marriages, which research consistently shows end in divorce at a higher rate than first marriages. Many people now in the older-adult population also came of age during a period of rising divorce rates in the 1970s, and some who divorced then and remarried are now divorcing again later in life.
Marriages tend to be much longer
The same research found that among people 50 and older going through a first divorce, the marriage had typically lasted around 29 years, compared to a median of about 18 years for those divorcing out of a second or later marriage. A marriage lasting several decades tends to involve more extensively intertwined finances than a shorter marriage, which can add complexity to sorting out property.
What tends to be different practically
Gray divorce often centers on different assets than a divorce earlier in life. Retirement accounts, pensions, and Social Security considerations tend to carry more weight than they would for a younger couple with fewer years of retirement savings, and there is typically less focus on child custody, since children are more often already adults. Housing decisions, such as whether to sell a long-held home, and questions about long-term financial security in retirement, also tend to weigh more heavily than they might in a divorce between younger spouses.
Why the details of a long marriage still call for individual review
Because a long marriage often means retirement assets, pensions, and decades of intertwined finances that are harder to unwind cleanly than a shorter marriage's finances, a general description of gray divorce cannot substitute for a review of the specific accounts and history involved. A licensed family law attorney, sometimes working alongside a financial professional, can assess how a long marriage's specific assets are likely to be handled.