Recent Posts in Social Security Category

Many older people looking for divorce help in Pasadena often voice concerns about their financial future. With a bleak economy and dismal job market mixed with little or no retirement savings, older Americans of any marital status have plenty to be concerned about. Now a new study commissioned by the Salvation Army finds that older divorcees have one more serious issue to worry about: homelessness.

Entitled "No Home at the End of the Road," the study examines the overwhelming housing stress currently affecting older single women. Divorced Baby Boom generation women, according to the findings, are one of the most financially vulnerable groups and are at a high risk of poverty and homelessness as they grow older.

One hundred eleven single women over the age of 40 who admitted they didn't expect to be homeowners before retirement were surveyed by Dr. Andrea Sharam of the Sinburne Institute. Seventy-seven percent of the 111 women surveyed were renting even though 79 percent of the women possessed higher education. These numbers deflate educational breadwinner theories, which suggest women with higher education earn larger salaries. And even those women in the survey who reportedly earned over $70,000 a year admitted to having minimal savings. In general, the majority of women received low monthly retirement payments or expected to do so. Fifty-eight percent predicted they would have less than $100,000 superannuation at retirement. Sixty-five percent of the women who are renting their homes said they were in debt. Most shockingly, a third of the women felt that they would never have sufficient income to retire while 20 percent felt certain they would need to keep working after age 70.

Sharam says divorced women are at particular risk regardless of their financial past.

"It's not about low income, it's about your life course," Dr. Sharam said in an interview with The Age. "You can do remarkably well, but as soon as you divorce, it's a different story."

It is a political trend divorce attorneys in Pasadena have seen brewing for quite some time: divorce reform bills. For the last couple of years, a variety of divorce reform acts have been purposed by politicians and lawmakers across the country. Yet just as this trend has gained momentum, two high-profile divorce bills on the ballots in two very different states have been defeated.

In Montana, Republican lawmaker Tom McGillvray proposed a bill that would require divorcing couples to attend seven meetings with a counselor. McGillvray says divorce is damaging a generation of children and thinks counseling could save marriages. Opponents of the bill, however, believe the bill was overstepping its bounds and interfering with the private lives of voters.

"I don't want you telling me what I can and can't do in my married life," argued Democratic Rep. Edie McClafferty. "I'm sure not going to tell anyone what they can and can't do in their married life. Last time I heard, we lived in a free country, people can make their own decisions.

McGillvray’s bill died on the house floor in a 60-40 vote.

Down south in Mississippi, a very different kind of divorce bill also was shot down. The house said "no, thank you" to a bill that would have given a spouse grounds for divorce if they have been away from an abusive situation for five years or longer. Backers of the bill say the bill would have made it easier for victims of abuse to file for divorce after fleeing an abusive situation from a spouse who woudn’t grant them a divorce. The bill had passed earlier in the Senate but was defeated last Thursday on a vote of 81-39. Mississippi law currently allows an abandoned spouse to file for divorce but doesn’t address when one spouse leaves but is denied a divorce by the other spouse.