Despite the fact that the overall divorce rate has fallen to its lowest level for nearly three decades, divorce amongst the Over 50s is on the increase. Last year in England and Wales more than 50,000 Third Age couples were divorced, bringing the total of Third Age divorcees to more than two million.

At a time when couples should be looking forward to some ‘we time’ after their children have left home and the mortgage is paid off, they are instead increasingly opting for ‘me time’ and a life of independence away from their marriage partners.

Of couse it’s not quite as simple as that. Fewer couples are getting married today than ever before which would naturally account for the decrease in the rate of divorce. We belong to an age when cohabiting was less socially acceptable and marriage was not only considered ‘the right thing to do’, but also reflected our degree of long-term commitment to our partners.

In an age of instant gratification and short-term thinking, it is all too easy today to take on a partner and change them after a few years as one would a car which is nearing the end of its useful life. With the stigma attached to divorce a thing of the past, and with life expectancy at an all-time high, Over 50s couples increasingly feel the need to make a fresh start just at the point in their lives when they should be enjoying the greatest time of their lives, together.

It was not uncommon in the past for married couples to come to the realization, once their children had flown the nest, that they no longer had as much in common as they once did. But for better or worse they made the best of a bad situation. Not today it seems!

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Graham said:

Interesting statistics. I heard a lawyer on the radio speaking about the increase in the numbers of people opting for pre-nuptual arrangements, which reflects the potential insecurity of long-term relationships.

I wonder how much of this is caused by the obvious erosion of the values which those of us in Third Age learned as children?

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Good point Graham, but I wonder here if we Third Agers haven't brought this upon ourselves. Perhaps in our desire to give our children everything we didn't have, we have not in fact passed on those values of which you speak.

Perhaps, feeling that our own upbrings were too strict, we lowered the standards expected of our children which has resulted in the world we have today.

Maybe we should not be blaming the younger generations but ourselves!