Choosing to end your marriage at any age is a difficult decision, but when it takes place in your fifties, the repercussions can be hard-hitting. It can impact you and your family emotionally and even physically. It may also have a negative effect on your health.

Here are the different ways a gray divorce can affect you:

Emotional impact

Divorce is always a major life event, and it may have a stronger emotional impact when it happens to older people. In a gray divorce, the couple involved has often spent many years together. They have formed habits, routines and traditions. They may have built a family and went through major milestones together. They have experienced both the good and the bad things that come with being married. To suddenly face life without the person who has been on your side for many years can be emotionally devastating.

Financial impact

You and your spouse may have accumulated a significant amount of assets throughout your marriage. Dividing and valuing these assets may be more complicated because older couples would typically have pension plans, stock options, retirement benefits and employment bonuses as well as executive compensation, among other assets. One or both of you may have partial ownership of other entities or assets. You or your spouse may also have other assets such as airline miles and hotel points that you would like to split during the divorce. Obtaining records and documentation from decades ago to prove ownership of your assets might be tricky.

Physical impact

When you are older, you may be suffering from a myriad of conditions that come with age or have become complicated with age. These may include high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar levels, eyesight or hearing problems, respiratory diseases and back, neck, and bone diseases. Going through a life-changing event such as divorce in your fifties and above can further complicate existing health issues. It is important to reach out to seek medical intervention if you have any concerns.

Self-care and self-preservation are vital in a gray divorce. It is also important that you understand your options and seek legal advice to help guide you through a divorce potentially mitigating the negative impact on your emotional, financial, and physical wellbeing.