Women & Divorce: Finances

Hollywood portrays kick-butt single women bouncing back financially from a divorce and overcoming their trials within a miraculous amount of time. Maybe that’s because so much of what is written is written by men, or has been in the past (no offense, bros but it isn’t out reality). Men and women experience the financial ramifications of divorce differently. Men do eventually bounce back, while studies show that women emerging from divorce have a much more difficult time.

Even if women are awarded the children, the percentage of women living in poverty after divorce is high compared to men. A recent study, “Gender Differences in the Consequences of Divorce: A Study of Multiple Outcomes,” by Thomas Leopold, tracked several outcomes, one of them economic. Interestingly,there were similarities in many of the outcomes, aside from emotional aspects and financials aspects. While I’ve read that men are more prone to severe depression after a divorce, it was interesting to read a study showing such a state. This is, for the most part, a short-term outcome. The alarming outcome was that women see the biggest dip in financial stability, and it isn’t short-term.

The wage gap is still real, even if a woman is well-educated. Further reading, from other sources, shows that many women only recover from the financial devastation of divorce about ten years later, if at all. A woman often still takes on the emotional burden of the children and will perform a huge chunk rearing the children with less support overall. This means she is raising children, working, and living on a wage far below what is needed to support herself and plan for her future.

Planning for divorce is difficult in the best of situations, but discussing exactly what your assets are with your attorney and how to make allowances for life after divorce so that you can bounce back from divorce is imperative--you gotta do it, ladies. The majority of women struggle for many years after a divorce, but if you can get a plan in motion with your attorney and see a financial guru, you can cut those years down. Maybe we can’t give you a Hollywood ending, but we can help you gain ground for you future. Contact us today at Kevin Hickey Law Partners. Remember, it’s about to get better.