The divorce rate in Minnesota and around the country increased during the 70s and 80s, but the effects from this trend are still being felt in the decades after. The baby boomer generation is aging into retirement, and the patterns of divorce that have affected their lives are forming the way they prepare for the future. The divorce trend has been found to be especially injurious to women of that generation.
Divorce rates have been rising steadily for people over 50 years of age even as they have fallen for young Americans. In fact, the number of divorces involving people of that age group doubled between 1990 and 2010. This has led directly to a large amount of financial insecurity and may be one of the major causes behind older women reentering or staying in the work force.
Approximately 20 percent of all Americans over the age of 65 are employed. This is more than double what it was in the 1980s. Further study has revealed a direct relationship between divorce, the age of the female partner, and financial insecurity. Women who got divorced after 50 years of age were 10 percent more likely to be employed full time between the ages of 50 and 74 than women who got divorced before age 30. The effects of the divorce rate and other factors have combined to mean that women of the baby boomer generation are approximately 20 percent more likely to be employed in a full time position after the age of 50 than women of the generation before.
Divorce at any age can bring a host of financial challenges, but particularly so for older women. People who are in this situation may wish to have legal assistance when seeking to obtain a favorable property settlement or to be awarded alimony.