Divorce with kids may come later than you think

Getting divorced is common for couples who have children together. Often, the assumption is that these parents will have gotten married in their 20s and decided to split up in their 30s. Consider, for instance, the so-called seven-year-itch. A couple may get married in their mid 20s, have children in their late 20s, and then get divorced in their early 30s with two young kids.

The problem with this assumption is that most people don’t get married in their 20s, at least not anymore. Research indicates that the average age of marriage is 32. For men, it’s 33, and it’s 31 for women.

It’s certainly true that many of these couples may have children before even getting married, but this still shows that things tend to happen later in life than many people expect. A first marriage may end for someone in their 40s, even though they still feel like they recently got married and they’re a young parent. Everything has slowly been trending in this direction for years.

Why does this matter for your divorce?

There are a lot of reasons why this could impact your divorce, such as:

• You may already be thinking about retirement planning and how your divorce impacts your savings and options.
• You may have minor children until your 50s, meaning you need a custody plan that lasts for a significant amount of time.
• You likely have far more assets in your 40s than you did in your 20s or 30s, so property division can be more complicated.
• Many business owners have already started their businesses by this age, so they have to think about how the divorce may impact the company. If you are in this situation, you don’t want your divorce to prove detrimental to the company for years to come after the marriage ends.

In other words, the later divorce happens, the more complex it usually is — both for asset division and child custody arrangements. But, with the marriage age continuing to drift later and later, it’s more likely that these are the types of things you’ll have to consider when you end your marriage. Make sure you are well aware of all of the legal options that you have at this time.