Arizona is home to many married couples over the age of 50, some of whom moved to Arizona specifically to enjoy their retirement. Presumably, people do not go into retirement expecting to get a divorce, but one study shows that divorce among couples over 50 in the United States has been on the rise for decades, with the rate doubling from 1990 to 2010.
One therapist says that couples are more likely to get divorced either in the first seven years of marriage or after they have been together for 20 years. The later divorces can be the result of couples growing apart and realizing that they do not want to spend several years in retirement in an unhappy marriage. Though couples of previous generations – when life expectancy was shorter – may have found it easier to stick out a bad marriage once they hit a certain age, that is less often the case now, when couples can expect to spend 20-30 years in retirement.
Additionally, women in today’s age are typically less financially dependent on men than they were in the past, meaning that many women over the age of 50 have been in the workforce for most of their adult lives. Having this independence can make women feel more emboldened, meaning that women are now less likely to put up with behavior they find unacceptable, such as adultery.
When couples get divorced in Arizona, a community property state, they will need to determine how to equally divide any assets that were acquired by either or both spouses during the marriage. Property division and the division of retirement assets, which older couples may need to access sooner rather than later, may require the assistance of an experienced Arizona family law attorney.