Over the last three decades, the country has seen a rise in “grey divorce” when couples aged 50 years and older split up, according to StatCan, although the divorce rates in that age group have stabilized more recently, dipping in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The breakdown of a marriage is never easy, but divorce at an older age beyond 50 has its unique set of challenges, experts say.
There seems to be less of a stigma around divorce and older couples are more willing to end their marriage if they are not happy with it, said Kevin Caspersz, a family lawyer in Vaughan, Ont. and managing partner at Caspersz Chegini LLP.
Caspersz told Global News that in the past 10 years, he has seen an increase in “grey divorce”, particularly with individuals 65 or older seeking to end their marriages.
“It’s definitely more prevalent over the years,” he said. “They (senior couples) look at it as they only have so much more time left to enjoy life and if they’re not happy in their relationship, the children have left the home. (There’s an) empty nest, they see no reason in continuing the marriage.”
Why are ‘grey divorces’ happening?
Rachel Margolis, a professor in the sociology department at the University of Western Ontario, said there are multiple factors that can contribute to a “grey divorce.”
One of them is that baby boomers, who are aged 60 to 78, have gone through different social changes during their lives.
“A lot of these people who are now older adults in Canada, they married young, they (may have) got divorced in their 20s, and we know that people who have already been divorced are more likely to divorce again,” Margolis said.
Baby boomers also have more wealth than any other generation in history, so they can afford to live in separate households, she added.
In addition, there is a significant number of unmarried older people than ever before, meaning there are more people out there to re-partner with after divorce, Margolis said.
“The baby boomers know that the stigma against divorce has really declined a lot over time,” she added. “So maybe in the past, a couple would have decided to stay together, but all of these things make it easier if people do want to get divorced.”
Financial concerns
While there are fewer parental responsibilities to worry about at an older age since the children are grown up and most likely independent, a “grey divorce” can still be a financial burden on both parties.
The concern is that the couples in a “grey divorce” don’t have many years of work left as a younger couple would and therefore have less time to rebuild lost assets, experts say. Meanwhile, the high cost of living and economic uncertainty has been weighing heavy on Canadians across the country, impacting the retirement plans for many.
A report by the Toronto Metropolitan University’s National Institute on Ageing (NIA) published last week showed that one in four Canadians aged 50 and older say that their income is not enough for them. Only about a third (35 per cent) in that age group said they could afford to retire when they wish to, the report said.
A Deloitte Canada analysis published a week before that also showed that 55 per cent of Canadians aged between 55 and 64 years will have to make changes to their lifestyles to avoid outliving their savings.
“If they are leaving that relationship with some sort of financial instability or let’s say, even some sort of support obligations, then that can be a real concern,” Caspersz said.
“And some might even have to consider putting off their retirement in order to satisfy the obligations resulting from the divorce and separation,” he added. “So, the lifestyle they perhaps were expecting to have in retirement is now in jeopardy or looks very different.”
Data suggests that the financial impact of a grey divorce tends to be greater on women than men.
A Statistics Canada study published last year showed that at ages 54 to 56, the income losses of divorced women were higher compared to single, married and widowed women. The study used tax data up from 1982 to 2020.
“Divorce also had a negative financial impact on men, but they were more likely, on average, to have higher incomes than women at ages 70 to 80,” the StatCan study said.
Margolis said even though women are more likely than men to initiate a divorce in the first place, when couples split up, men generally end up with more wealth and income than women on average.
In the current housing market, with prices through the roof and high interest rates, finding another home can also be a challenge when couples split up.
“Because the housing prices have increased so much in Canada, it’s just harder for people who are getting divorced now than in the past to find adequate housing,” Margolis said. “So, what we sometimes see is that people and especially women are pulling resources together and might live with friends or might live with family members.”
Having a prenuptial agreement or a marriage contract in place can be helpful to separate any assets the couple have accumulated over time, Caspersz said.
Mental toll of ‘grey divorce’
The emotional toll of a long marriage ending is also likely to hit women harder, some research suggests.
A study using data from Finland published Tuesday in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health showed an accelerated increase in the use of antidepressants in both men and women aged 50 to 70 years immediately before divorce, but women in that age group had greater increases, the study found. Although the use of antidepressants declined at the time of re-partnering, this reduction was small and short-lived, and was not observed in female divorcees, the authors concluded.
“The smaller declines in antidepressant use associated with re-partnering in women than in men may be related to the explanations that marriage benefits men’s mental health to a greater extent than women’s, and older men are more likely than women to seek (new partners),” the study authors said.
“In addition, women may take greater responsibilities to manage interpersonal relationships (within) blended families, such as those with the (new) partner’s children, which could undermine their mental health.”
Adult children and grandchildren can play a supporting role here and help the divorced couple adjust to their new life, experts say.
“I think that all children can try to be accommodating to their parents and realize that their parents are choosing what they want for themselves and try and be supportive of that even if it makes life more complicated,” Margolis said.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
