Til retirement us do part….

This BBC report mirrors the experience of my colleagues and I in our family law team: there’s been a 75% rise in the number of over 60s getting divorced. Its not at all unusual any more for us to have a number of clients in their 60s and 70s and I recently worked on a case where the couple had been married for 65 years and had a son approaching retirement himself.

With 1 in 4 of us predicted to live to the age of 100, couples just aren’t prepared to stay miserably together in retirement, when that could stretch ahead for two three or even four decades

Later-life marital splits bring their own particular issues such as complex pension sharing arrangements, provision for care home fees, complex inheritance planning and more…

The number of people divorcing in later life has been increasing at a time when divorce rates overall have been falling. What's behind the phenomenon of the 'silver splitters'?

Divorce among people aged 60 and over has risen since the 1990s, according to the Office of National Statistics - while among the rest of the population, it has fallen.
In 2011, nearly 9,500 men in this age group divorced - an increase of almost three-quarters compared with 20 years earlier. The trend for women is similar. And it's not just because there are more older people now.

Research suggests a big driver of the increase in 'silver splitters' is increasing life expectancy.

And people want more from their retirement, according to solicitor Karin Walker, of law firm KGW Family Law in Woking and the family law association, Resolution.