Britain is a country for more and more divorced old men, 'silver separators' with a lust for life

 

 

An article in the 'Daily Mail' today was entitled :

Surge in divorces among the over-60 'silver separators' despite drop in overall rate of couples splitting up 

It made the following points, that official figures show :

* the number of old people whose marriages collapse when they reach their 60's has risen sharply even though divorce overall has become less common, the rate of break-ups among the ‘silver separators’ has soared in the past ten years.

* the overall rate fell to 10.8 divorces per 1,000 people last year, down from 14 per 1,000 in 2004, however, the proportion of couples splitting up in their 60s was up by 58% on last year, to a record 5,836.and is likely to keep rising.

 

*  among old men over 60, the number of divorcees went up by 43% from 6,580 to 8,539 with the numbers of husbands over 60 divorcing being higher because men typically marry at older ages than women.

The growing number of silver separations, might be explained by the fact that  :

* they are  partly a result of the increasing health of older people, who would once have been expected to sink into a passive retirement.

* many women have separate incomes to their husbands, giving them the financial freedom to move on. 

.Dr Ros Altmann, of the 'Saga' organisation, said:

"This is an effect of success, that people are expecting to live longer and are embracing life.
People in their 60's are looking forward to decades more of life. They want to experience new things.
People of this age are in a tumultuous phase. The children may have left home and they are spending less time at work. For some, the grass looks greener. They think they are going to have a great social life, but that may not turn out to be true, and often a partner is left unhappy. It could be the mid-life crisis is shifting to later in life. Some counselling for people around retirement age could help."

Family lawyer Vicki McLynn, of the Pannone law firm, said:
"This trend has developed over the last decade and possibly represents a greater lust for life than might have been seen in this age group in previous generations."