Family law firms are preparing for a massive increase in divorce among pensioners following George Osborne’s Pension reforms.
Lawyers warn that the overhaul of pension regulation, which is set to come into effect in April, will add to the divorce boom the nation is already experiencing among couples who are near retirement age.
The reason for the concern lies in the fact that the changes introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer allow men to cash in their pension rather than be tied into an annuity.
The access to fresh cash could act as a catalyst to older women seeking new lives for themselves. Women in a long-standing marriage could expect the couple’s entire wealth to be split 50/50.
Nicola Harries, a partner in family law Stevens & Bolton, was quoted in The Telegraph saying, “We are tending to see that the vast majority of divorces that are initiated in this age-group are started by the woman. The children have flown the nest and the husband is potentially retiring in the near future, I think very often there is a recognition that they have been living very different lives…. I think a lot of the ladies are thinking ‘I’m having much more fun going out with my other friends than I would be with my husband, is this is a situation I want to be stuck with?”
The trend in what is known as ‘silver splitters’ was documented by the International Longevity Centre in the United Kingdom (ILC-UK) earlier in the year. The Thinktank found that
“While divorce has been going down among the young and middle-aged, among the over-60s it has shot up by 85 per cent since 2000. It means that at the current rate, by 2037 one in ten of all divorced people will be over 60….The Office for National Statistics has said that the number of divorced older people has trebled in two decades. There are now more than 700,000 divorced over-65s, more than the number who have never married.”
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” It means that at the current rate, by 2037 one in ten of all divorced people will be over 60. ”
I wonder what THEY predicted in 1991 about 2014 ?
I’m going to wait and see what actually happens before I worry about this.
With respect, Rox, an attitude like yours is exactly the problem. No-one thinks long-term in this disposable society.
It will not pan out as well for the women (and some men) initiating these divorces as they think. On top of that, their children will be dismayed. And no-one thinks about the effect on the other party and the emotional and economic (including health) costs of that.
There will be costs in moving to additional housing. Parties will no longer be able to care for each other when they get really old. So one may then go into a care home. All this will impact their children’s inheritance in addition to the emotional shock and the time involved.
There will be additional costs on the NHS as divorced people statistically are not as healthy as those married and place extra demand on beds because of the lack of care at home as I mentioned above. There will be additional pension burdens to the exchequer as two individuals cost the system more than one married couple.
The only people who will benefit from this will be lawyers. Nicola Harries is not exactly throwing up her hands in horror.