5 Issues to Consider When Getting a Gray Divorce

Have you heard the term gray divorce yet? It has become incredibly popular in the legal industry and beyond. A gray divorce is one that involves a couple where at least one person is over the age of 50. A gray divorce has become more and more common as people move in different directions once their children are grown and on their own. Our Salt Lake City divorce attorney would like to share five issues you should consider when getting a gray divorce so you can be prepared when the paperwork is filed.

Deciding on the Amount and Length of Alimony

One of the biggest considerations you must make when getting a gray divorce is putting a number on the marriage. The number we mean is that of alimony. You need to decide the amount of alimony that will be paid and how long it will be paid. Deciding alimony for a gray divorce can be more complicated than if you were to divorce at a young age. The person who will be paying the alimony is probably in the latter stages of their career, which means they might have stock options, stakes in ownership, perks for travel and many other benefits.

A New Life Insurance Policy

When you are told to pay alimony to your former spouse you will need to have a new life insurance policy. This policy will need to be for the amount of the alimony and the term must be as long as the alimony will be paid. So, not only will you need to make monthly alimony payments, you will also need to make premium payments to an insurance company late in life, which could be quite costly.

Proving Which Assets are Separate

It can be very difficult to prove which assets are marital and which ones are separate if you didn’t have a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement in place during the marriage. For example, have you been contributing to a 401(k) since your 20s? If you saved the statements you will easily be able to show what amount of the account’s value came before the marriage. Things can become even more difficult when it comes to a collection that you had since your childhood or teen years.

Dealing with an Inheritance

When one party in a marriage inherits money or another asset it is typically a separate property unless both spouses are named in the will. An inheritance can wind up as marital property if the money or the assets are commingled and then turned into marital assets. For example, inheritance was used to purchase a new marital home or create a joint savings account for the two spouses.

Problems with Social Security

Social Security can become a problem if you decide to get divorced later in life. It’s possible for you to collect benefits from your former spouse’s Social Security if you were married for a long time and then divorce. This doesn’t mean you should negotiate a lower alimony settlement because you might be deemed ineligible to collect off your former spouse’s earnings for one reason or another. Do you have questions about gray divorce? Contact the office of Emy A. Cordano in Salt Lake City at 801-804-5152 to schedule a consultation.