Guest post by Matthew Drew [1], managing partner of Wiltshire law firm Goughs Solicitors
Drew: Work on later-life divorce needs distinct mindset
Later-life divorce, often described as ‘silver splitter’ or ‘grey divorce’ cases, is no longer a marginal feature of family law practice.
While divorce rates among younger cohorts have stabilised or declined, separations among those aged 50 and over have risen steadily for more than two decades.
For the profession, this is not simply a demographic curiosity; it represents a structural shift in demand that challenges long-standing assumptions about how divorce work is scoped, priced, and delivered.
Too often, later-life divorce is treated as a conventional family matter with a longer marriage attached. In practice, these cases raise fundamentally different legal, financial and risk considerations.
They are frequently pension-heavy, liquidity-constrained, emotionally complex, and closely intertwined with private client, tax and estate planning issues. Without a tailored professional framework, firms risk inefficiency, increased exposure to complaint or negligence risk, and outcomes that fail to meet clients’ long-term needs.
Why later-life divorce is different
The defining feature of later-life divorce is not simply age, but the depth of interdependence created by long marriages and later-life relationships. These cases are not confined to couples married for several decades; second marriages feature prominently and often introduce additional layers of complexity.
I acted for a gentleman in his 80s who had been married for only six years to his second wife. He entered the marriage as a widower, owning a modest bungalow outright. His wife, around 10 years younger, moved from local authority accommodation into the property.
When the relationship broke down, the legal issues were not complex, but the needs of the parties were. There was insufficient capital to rehouse both parties mortgage-free. The wife had relinquished her secure tenancy and was no longer treated as having priority housing need, while the husband felt it was fundamentally unfair for pre-marital capital to be redistributed so late in life.
Although needs would usually take priority over the ringfencing of non-matrimonial capital, the case ultimately settled with a more modest lump sum, but only after careful navigation of housing realities and fairness arguments.
For practitioners, such cases illustrate why later-life divorce cannot be approached with formulaic assumptions. Clients in their 60s may prioritise pension income modelling over capital division. Clients in their 80s are rarely concerned with 30-year planning horizons; sustainability over the remaining years is paramount.
Security, predictability and viability often trump theoretical equality.
Financial complexity and emotional value
Financial arrangements in silver-splitter cases differ markedly from those involving younger couples. Where childcare and earning capacity dominate earlier-life divorces, later-life cases are shaped by asset preservation, income generation, and care planning.
Pensions frequently represent the largest asset class, often exceeding the value of the family home. Defined benefit schemes, in particular, can be contentious. I have seen cases where a party with substantial pension provision is understandably reluctant to agree to a pension share where the other elderly spouse is in poor health and may not live long enough to take much benefit from the pension provision transferred to them.
Alternatives such as spousal maintenance can be explored, but these may require expensive life insurance to mitigate risk, adding further complexity and cost.
Liquidity constraints are also common. Clients may be asset-rich but cash-poor, with value tied up in property or land.
In one case, an 80-year-old husband owned the land that had historically been used by his adult children for their business. When the marriage broke down, the land realistically needed to be sold to meet both parties’ housing needs. However, the children’s continued use of the land makes the sale difficult. The husband did not wish to retain it as part of his share precisely because it is effectively unsaleable without the cooperation of the other parties.
These are not abstract valuation issues; they go directly to the workability of any settlement.
Emotional value also plays an outsized role. Long-accumulated possessions, family homes and even seemingly trivial items can carry disproportionate weight. Practitioners must allow space for these concerns while ensuring that sentiment does not undermine long-term financial viability.
Adult children and wider family dynamics
The absence of dependent children does not mean family dynamics are irrelevant. Adult children often align themselves with the parent perceived to be more vulnerable, which can fuel conflict and, in some cases, lead to estrangement.
I have encountered cases where adult children have subsequently been written out of wills, and others where clients are overly focused on preserving assets for children and grandchildren at the expense of their own future security.
For lawyers, these dynamics create both practical and reputational risks. Adult children may exert pressure, complicate negotiations or indirectly influence decision-making. Clear advice, careful boundary-setting, and meticulous attendance notes are essential.
Practical and evidential challenges
There are also practical considerations when acting for elderly clients. Many are perfectly capable with IT, but others struggle with basic digital processes. Paper-heavy disclosure, requests for postal correspondence, and slower turnaround times are common and must be factored into case management and pricing.
Cognitive decline, even at a mild level, can affect comprehension and recall. This has direct implications for the delivery of advice and the reliability of evidence.
In one case, a client recalled the other spouse receiving a courier delivery of a bar of gold many years earlier. The gold was never disclosed; the other spouse claimed it had been gifted and sold long ago. One party was almost certainly being dishonest, but the absence of documentary evidence made the issue impossible to prove.
Extended timeframes also mean clients may simply forget about dormant bank accounts or historic investments, complicating disclosure exercises.
The overlap with private client and tax planning
Later-life divorce invariably triggers a need to review wills, powers of attorney, pension nominations, and estate planning structures. This overlap will become even more pronounced if, as planned, unused pension benefits are brought within the scope of inheritance tax from April 2027.
Defined contribution pensions, in particular, may present difficult trade-offs between meeting immediate income needs via pension sharing and creating a substantial inheritance tax exposure for the recipient’s estate.
Failure to address these interconnected issues exposes firms to real professional risk. Clients often assume that divorce “deals with everything”. It does not.
A distinct professional mindset
Later-life divorce is not simply an extension of existing family law work. It is a distinct and growing area that demands its own legal mindset, closer interdisciplinary working, and a recalibration of how firms’ scope, price, and deliver advice.
As silver-splitter cases continue to rise, the firms that adapt their frameworks accordingly will be best placed to serve clients and protect themselves in this evolving landscape.