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The instance of mature couples divorcing is on the rise. Are over 50s less inclined to stay together than their parents, and what makes a \u2018good uncoupling\u2019?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Vicki Milliken<\/p>\n<\/header>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cI went through this process of feeling like my future had been stolen from me,\u201d says 53-year-old Kate Christie about the end of her 22-year marriage. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018I don\u2019t love you any more. I want to leave our marriage. I want the chance to meet and fall in love with someone else while I\u2019m still young.\u2019 And that was that.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI felt really blindsided. I was angry, upset and resentful.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Christie is one of a growing number of over 50s navigating life after separation and divorce<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[There\u2019s] definitely an uptick in mature age divorces compared to even 10 years ago,\u201d says clinical psychologist, Dr Rashika Gomez. It\u2019s an observation supported by the most recent research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies<\/a>, which shows that the proportion of divorces among couples married for 20 years and longer has increased from about 20% in the 1980s and 1990s, to over 25% in 2021.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n