As we live in an ever changing and evolving society, our likes and passions often change along with them. Who we were in our early twenties is often not who were are in our late forties; after life and hardships have been experienced in full force. It is common that as young people we choose to marry the love of our lives at the time, and promise to spend the rest of our lives with them. And while we may mean this promise at the time, over the years of trials, hardships, alcohol addictions, lost loved ones, changes in careers, etc. people change; and so do marriages. For some spouses, the ups and downs of life only draw them even closer together in marriage as they realize their love and trust for one another only increases when life is hard and they stick it through. However, there are many spouses who realize that for one reason or another, over the years they lose love for their partner and eventually want to divorce.

Today, the divorce rate in America is currently around 50% of all marriages, and can occur for a wide variety of reasons. For some, it may mean falling out of love, for others it might be drugs or alcohol addictions, adultery, overworking; the list goes on. What researchers are beginning to notice; however, is the fact that more and more divorces are occurring for older couples. So much so, that these separations have now been categorized as being “grey divorces”, meaning that anyone older than the age of 50 who ends their marriage with their spouse.

According to studies done by sociologists Susan Brown and I-Fen Lin from Bowling Green State University, they have seen a trend over the past 2 decades of divorces for couples older than 50 years old. Their paper was called “The Gray Divorce Revolution” and it discussed the divorce rates beginning in 1990 that were gathers from both the U.S. Census Bureau. What is even more shocking is that according to a nationwide survey that was conducted by AARP in 2004, the majority of these divorces were initiated by woman. 66% of the divorces for people aged from 40-69 were instigated by the females.

While many people often assume that a divorce is a result of infidelity, these studies show that this is not the case for the grey generation of baby boomers. Only 27% of the couples listed that infidelity even played a part in their separation. So what then has led to this high influx of marriages coming to an end? When people hit the age of 50, it is likely that their kids are now out of the house, and they are realizing that there is little left in common and a divorce is just a byproduct. Others believe that as feminism grows, so does the idea that more and more woman do not want to be tied down in marriage with the husband of their youth.

Whatever the cause of a couples divorce, the freedoms of living gin a country like America allow for people to have the opportunity to call it quits if they so choose. While not all states have this law, a majority have what is called a “no-fault” divorce which essentially means that a couple can split for any reason they so choose and it will be deemed a legal divorce. In other states there must be a more specific reason such as infidelity, domestic violence, etc. If you or someone you know is considering a divorce, contact a family attorney in your area for the legal representation you deserve during this time.