Usually painful. Perhaps in some ways that are a little different from the pain one would suffer when divorcing young, but still painful.
Retirees suffer a unique pain in the form of seeing their net worth cut in half, or worse, and at a time when they often (usually) don’t have enough time to “make the money back.” Divorce is a financial hardship on the elderly more than it is on the young. Old age is a time of decreasing or outright nonexistent earning capacity while expenses rise in the forms of sharply increased health care expenses. Unless a couple was poor during their marriage, Social Security income is rarely enough to maintain the lifestyle to which the couple was accustomed during the marriage.
Many women believe that alimony is a given in divorce. It’s not. In Utah, where I practice divorce and family law, even if the wife can show a need for financial support beyond her own income, if the old, retired, possibly (and often) disabled husband is unable to work or otherwise provide the wife’s need after meeting his living expenses, the wife won’t get alimony.
It is less expensive for two to live together than apart, and that is certainly true for elderly couples, who can divide the costs of housing and utilities, even food and entertainment, between them, as opposed to having to incur all of those expenses separately. They can help each other more, and more often, instead of having to rely on outside caregivers. Divorce is generally more emotionally damaging to the elderly than it is for the young.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277
https://www.quora.com/How-is-it-to-divorce-when-you-get-retired/answer/Eric-Johnson-311
