Elizabeth Verwey says her divorce at age 55 had a major impact on her financial wellbeing.Jenna Marie Wakani/The Globe and Mail
Elizabeth Verwey was on track to retire at 55. But when she ended her marriage of 36 years, she was forced to rethink that plan.
“The divorce made it a financial reality that I had to work an additional 14 years,” says the Toronto-based writer, director and producer, who only recently retired at age 69.
That wasn’t the only way a later-in-life divorce impacted Ms. Verwey’s finances: She no longer has a car, and she rents a one-bedroom apartment rather than the four-bedroom home she previously owned. After her ex-husband hired a self-described “pitbull” of a lawyer, she surrendered “six figures” worth of belongings to him that she says weren’t worth the legal fees to fight for.
Ms. Verwey adds that the “huge emotional shock” of the upheaval also made it hard for her to keep working.
“When I was in a fog, it impacted my business terribly,” she says. “Emotionally, I wasn’t ready to go out and network with a happy face.”
Despite everything it cost her financially and emotionally, Ms. Verwey says she counts her new life as pure gain.
“I knew that I’d prefer to have a reduced lifestyle with more happiness,” she says. She’s since remarried, recently celebrating her three-year anniversary. For now, she and her new husband are staying in her bachelorette pad, saving money as he recovers financially from his own divorce.
Ms. Verwey’s experience – and the financial calculus that comes with it – is hardly unique among Baby Boomers in 2026.
While Canada’s overall divorce rate hit a 50-year-low in 2020, the last time Statistics Canada measured it, the rate of people over 50 divorcing has been rising for decades. Often called “grey divorce,” the number of these splits rose 26 per cent from 1991 to 2006 and has plateaued since then. In 2020, the average length of a marriage that ended in divorce was 30.7 years.
An important aspect of any decision to end a marriage is how it will impact you financially. For older Canadians, particularly those in or nearing retirement, the equation becomes exponentially more complex. Wanting to leave a marriage and being able to afford to leave a marriage – especially if you’re no longer working or never worked outside the home – can be two very different factors. But experts say that with foresight and careful planning, the financial strain can be mitigated.
Know what you are entitled to
Toronto-based family lawyer Emma Katz says the law regarding the division of assets for a couple of any age is clear.
“When married spouses separate in Ontario, the law says that they’re to go through a process called ‘equalization,’” she says. “The idea behind it is that you’re sharing what was accumulated during the marriage equally.”
If you came into the marriage with assets – for example, $100,000 in cash – that would still be yours after the divorce, but you would share any financial growth that asset accrued throughout the marriage, Ms. Katz says. Gifts or inheritances you personally received during the marriage are excluded from the “net family property,” though they must have been kept separate and not used for the matrimonial home.
What this typically means for retired people who have been together for many years is that any investments, retirement plans and so on would be divided equally. “It doesn’t matter if they were joint or in either party’s name,” she says.
The more additional assets a couple owns – a joint family cottage, a holding company for corporations that paid dividends to you as a shareholder, vacation homes overseas, artwork, jewellery – the “more complicated it becomes,” says Neela White, a partner and co-founder at Blue Wing Financial Group.
“You need to [watch] that when the division of assets occurs, the asset you’re getting is not a fixed asset that doesn’t have cash flow,” she says. In other words, some assets may be more desirable than others. For example: If a couple is worth $10-million together and split that 50/50, there’s a big difference between $5-million in cash and $5-million worth of a house in Florida where you need to pay taxes and upkeep, plus book flights to get there.
Age and stage can make a big difference here, Ms. White says. At 60, for example, you may still be working a well-paying job and able to pay those costs on your own. At 70 and retired, you might not have the same cash flow to cover costs that were previously covered communally.
In terms of spousal support, Ms. Katz notes that’s mostly tied to income, not assets. In a case where both people are retired and not working and have equally divided their assets, the idea is that both people have the same ability to earn income from those assets.
Consider the costs – now and in the future
Ms. Verwey says that her advice for people considering a later life divorce is to “gather information before you take the leap.” If possible, meet with a financial planner first, she says. “One woman I know moved out after an angry comment her husband made, but she really could have taken a pause and prepared better, emotionally and financially.”
According to Ms. White, as important exercise when considering divorce is examining your current lifestyle and figuring out if your cash flow still covers it once you’re no longer married.
“What do you need for rent or mortgage? What do you spend on groceries? What is your discretionary and non-discretionary spending?” she says.
And don’t forget to add the “single tax,” or the fact that single people don’t have anyone to split costs with, from housing to vacations. The extra dimension in grey divorce, she adds, is the need to look at your current health and any future care needs you may need to cover, too.
“What illnesses run in your family? Are you going to have mobility issues?” she says. Don’t forget tasks that you might be able to do now, like shovelling the driveway or mowing the lawn, but could be more challenging with age.
“What do those support costs look like?”
Explore alternatives
While divorce may be the ultimate option for many, there are also always creative ways to make your finances work as older people who don’t want to be together but might be okay living together while legally separated. Note: This all assumes that you are not in an unsafe, abusive situation. In those cases, you cannot afford not to leave.
“Maybe you can get to a point where you can still share, without the divorce,” says Ms. White, pointing to a couple who might decide to co-exist as roommates who share expenses and look out for one another as they age.
“It turns out you don’t have to like someone to love them,” notes Ms. Verwey, who wrote a book called Brave New Endings about divorced couples who have ended up caring for each other.
For example, she interviewed a woman whose ex-husband fell on hard times and ended up moving in with her – and her new partner – and renting a room in their home.
“It’s very amicable,” Ms. Verwey says, adding that this woman lives with multiple sclerosis, and has come to appreciate the extra support. “Both men take care of her.”