After 25 or 30 years of marriage, most couples expect to be planning retirement together, not dividing their assets and starting over. Yet for a growing share of divorcing Americans, the end of a marriage comes after age 50, sometimes following decades of shared responsibilities, children, and financial decisions.
Researchers call this phenomenon gray divorce, and the numbers reveal a significant generational shift. According to Bowling Green State University’s National Center for Family and Marriage Research, divorce rates among adults 50 and older more than doubled between 1990 and 2023, even as overall divorce rates declined.
