You're not getting divorced at twenty-five. The mistakes that matter now aren't the ones you can fix in five years - they're the ones you can't fix at all.
Divorce after fifty isn't a smaller version of divorce at thirty. There's no decade of working years left to rebuild a mistimed retirement account, no do-over on a Social Security claiming date, no second chance at a QDRO that was never filed. The stakes are higher, the clock is shorter, and almost every book on the shelf was written for someone twenty years younger than you.
This one wasn't.
Divorce After Fifty is a plain-spoken, no-fluff guide to the money decisions that actually matter in a gray divorce - the ones with a deadline, the ones that can't be undone, and the ones nobody thinks to mention until it's too late. In nine focused chapters, you'll learn how to:
Build a marital balance sheet that accounts for the after-tax reality of every asset, not just its face value.
Time your divorce around the dates that outrank your lawyer - the ten-year Social Security marriage rule, Medicare eligibility, and the deadlines built into your state's own law.
Divide a pension or 401(k) correctly with a QDRO, before a paperwork delay costs you real money.
Claim Social Security on your former spouse's record - a benefit most divorced people never even know they're entitled to.
Bridge the gap in health coverage between your divorce and Medicare at sixty-five.
Decide, with numbers instead of emotion, whether to keep the house or sell it.
Build a single-household budget that actually holds up on one income instead of two.
Handle the thirty days after your decree - the beneficiary forms, the account titles, and the estate documents that are dangerously easy to forget.
Each chapter ends with a hands-on decision sheet you can fill out yourself - no calculator, no spreadsheet, no financial degree required.
Written for men and women alike, in clear language instead of legal jargon, Divorce After Fifty is the book to read before you sign anything.
By Alex Turing