If you are over the age of 50 and have decided that it’s time to finally unshackle yourself from the old “ball and chain,” you are not alone. In fact, you are part of the gray divorce boom. High-profile divorces, like Bill and Melinda Gates and Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, go to show that wealth doesn’t always equal happily ever after for long-married couples. Even as divorce rates across the United States decline, your age group is bucking the trend. Baby boomers are now divorcing at the highest rates in U.S. history, with a divorce rate that’s more than doubled from 1990 to 2010.
Divorce might offer you the liberation you’ve been craving, but older couples also face unique divorce challenges. When you’ve been together for a long time, decoupling can get a little complicated. Here are five issues that can be extra tricky for divorcing baby boomers: