There is an increasing number of older adults that are unmarried, and this is putting a greater share of senior citizens at risk of economic disadvantage. This column discusses a report that uses data from a 2010 Health and Retirement Study to examine three indicators of economic well-being to chart a diverse range of marital biographies. Social Security receipts, benefit levels, and poverty status were the three indicators that were used to examine the marital biographies of singles that were married and the status of single senior citizens that were not married. The study found that the number of “gray divorces” that occur when the couple is over the age of 50 has been increasing in recent years. The timing of a marital dissolution can have a tremendous impact on a person’s post-divorce advancement.
See Katherine C. Pearson, The Rising Impact of Unpartnered Older Adults and “Gray Divorce,” Law Professor Blog Network, January 15, 2015.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.
