Over 50 & Contemplating Divorce? Top Divorce Attorney explains the impact

[Source: KTLA 5 News]

Over 50 & Contemplating Divorce? Top Divorce Attorney Christopher C. Melcher explains the impact on KTLA News:

Chasing youth in a midlife crisis to growing apart before their kids go off to college. A growing number of couples over 50 are seeking divorce.

Studies show these so-called gray divorces could cut your income in half, wipe out retirement savings and lead to serious health problems.

Joining us now is family law attorney Christopher Melcher of the top family law firm Walzer Melcher.
What are the major issues that lead to divorce for middle-aged couples?

“Mostly I’m seeing a couple who have stayed together for the sake of their children and after those children have grown up and left the home, there’s really nothing gluing that marriage together anymore. We’re also seeing midlife crisis where people’s priorities change and, and they’re no longer interested in preserving that marriage and they want to focus on themselves and that can lead to a divorce,” explains family law expert Christopher C. Melcher.

You say older couples are likely to do worse in a divorce than a younger couple. In what ways?

“There’s financial and health impacts of that decision. The longer that couples are together, the more intertwined their lives are financially and personally. And it’s traumatic to take that apart from them. There’s a loss of security. There’s a loss of identity that happens in a longterm marriage that’s broken up,” says top divorce attorney Christopher C. Melcher.

Also, the financial impact of what’s called the gray divorce is pretty significant.

“It is. The longer that they’re together, the more assets they’ve acquired. And we’re talking home and maybe business investments and retirement accounts. All that has to be divided and now that they’re dividing it, they’re having to live in two separate households on the same amount of income that they had before and something has to give and that’s going to be their lifestyle. And since they are older, they may be near the end of their career. They don’t have time to rebuild. And that’s really the saddest part of that decision,” explains family law expert Christopher C. Melcher.

Obviously, divorce is stressful for everyone involved or typically is, it seems like if you’re over 50, that there are some other issues that are attached to that.

“There’s absolutely health effects. The studies have shown that could lead to depression, weight gain, substance abuse, and these, these people were together their entire adult life. And so they’re at risk and they really need a support system in place, a buddy or a therapist, somebody who’s going to help them through that process. Again, the loss of security and the loss of identity has substantial impacts on them. And again, one of them moving out of the house or both of them moving out of the house and now you have divorce and a move. The two major life stressors,” says Christopher C. Melcher, high net worth divorce attorney.

What are some options for, for couples that realize they are unhappy, they’re over 50 but maybe divorce isn’t the answer because of all those reasons that you just gave?

“I think speaking to a therapist about the reasons why they’re unhappy. I think we define our own happiness and we choose to be happy or we choose to be sad. So some acceptance and recognition of we’re going through is important. Also talking to a divorce lawyer and seeing what does this really look like, how expensive it is going to be, how long is it going to take, and for them to decide ultimately if it’s worth it.

And if they do decide to go forward with a divorce, to really make a plan, a solid plan, so they’re not wasting all their money on legal fees,” advises celebrity divorce lawyer Christopher C. Melcher.

You find in your practice that sometimes in an older divorce, one of them has a straying eye and all of a sudden that fails and the whole thing blows up.

“That’s right. I mean, it’s very common. And this idea of chasing something that they think is better- it never is. It is just trading one problem for another. And again we are in this for life and we got to keep that in mind and not make these decisions impulsively,” says Christopher C. Melcher.

Once again KTLA thanks Christopher Melcher of Walzer Melcher, a top family law attorney from one of the highest-rated law firms in California for joining us.

For more information, visit: https://walzermelcher.com

Aired on 7/28/19

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