Silver Divorce in Florida: What to Know About Divorce After 60
The law is the same at 60 as it is at 30. What changes is what you’re dividing and how it has to pay for the rest of your life. In this guide, I cover the issues I see most often for Floridians over 60: Social Security, pensions, retirement accounts, alimony, health insurance, and your estate plan.
Why Divorce After 60 Is Different
Every Florida divorce follows the same basic steps. The court sorts marital from non-marital property, values it, and starts from an equal split. See Fla. Stat. § 61.075.
After 60, though, a paycheck is often replaced by Social Security, a pension, and retirement accounts. There’s less time to rebuild. So the question isn’t just “who gets what?” It’s “will each of us have enough monthly income to live on, including housing and health care?” A couple living on retirement savings cares less about who keeps the couch and more about steady, tax-smart income for both of them.
Social Security: Not Divided, but Still Important
Federal law doesn’t allow a Florida judge to divide Social Security as property. But that doesn’t mean it’s ignored.
- It counts for alimony. Social Security is income when the court looks at need and ability to pay.
- You may get benefits on your ex’s record. If your marriage lasted at least 10 years and you’re unmarried, you may qualify for a divorced-spouse benefit starting at age 62. It can be up to half of your ex’s full benefit. See the Social Security Administration.
- It doesn’t reduce your ex’s check. A divorced-spouse benefit doesn’t lower what your ex, or their new spouse, receives.
- Survivor benefits have their own rules. A divorced spouse may also qualify for survivor benefits if the ex dies.
Here’s an example. A lower-earning spouse, married 27 years and now 66, may be able to claim a benefit based on the higher earner’s record, without taking anything from the higher earner. Check your exact numbers with Social Security before you settle.
Pensions: The Part Earned During the Marriage
A pension is usually marital to the extent it was earned during the marriage. Courts often figure this out with a simple fraction: years worked while married, divided by total years worked.
Say a retired teacher worked 30 years, and 20 of those years were during the marriage. Two-thirds of the pension is marital. The other spouse would usually get half of that part, or one-third of the whole pension.
There are two common ways to divide a pension:
- Split the monthly payment when it’s paid out.
- Offset it. One spouse keeps the whole pension, and the other gets other assets of equal value.
Watch the survivor benefit. The choice made at retirement about survivor benefits can change a pension’s value a lot, and some plans won’t let you change it later. Get a professional pension valuation early.
401(k)s and IRAs: Divide Them the Right Way
The marital part of a retirement account is usually what was added, and what it earned, during the marriage. Money you had before the marriage is generally yours, but you’ll need records to prove it.
Most employer plans, like a 401(k), need a special court order called a QDRO (Qualified Domestic Relations Order) to move money to the other spouse without taxes or penalties. Government and military plans use similar orders with different names. A few practical tips:
- Use the right order for the right plan. A mistake here can trigger taxes.
- Consider naming a set dollar amount as of a set date, like “$125,000 as of June 1,” rather than just “50 percent.” It can reduce delays when markets move.
- If a 401(k) started long before the marriage and the records are thin, a practical agreement can cost less than a full tracing analysis.
Learn more on our Florida property division page.
Alimony After 60
Alimony is based on one spouse’s need and the other’s ability to pay. Florida changed its alimony law in 2023. Permanent alimony is gone. The longest type now is durational alimony, and it’s capped based on the length of the marriage. See Fla. Stat. § 61.08.
| Length of marriage | Maximum durational alimony |
|---|---|
| Under 10 years | Up to 50% of the length of the marriage |
| 10 to 20 years | Up to 60% of the length of the marriage |
| 20 years or more | Up to 75% of the length of the marriage |
A judge can go beyond these limits only in exceptional circumstances. Many silver divorces involve long marriages, so alimony can still last a long time. Try our Florida alimony calculator.
Retirement Can Change Alimony
Florida law now lets a paying spouse ask to lower or end alimony when they retire. They must have reached Social Security’s normal retirement age, or the usual retirement age in their field, and actually retired or taken real steps to retire. They can file up to six months before they retire. The judge weighs things like age, health, why they’re retiring, and the other spouse’s needs. See Fla. Stat. § 61.14.
New Relationships Can Change Alimony, Too
If the spouse receiving alimony later lives in a “supportive relationship,” the judge must lower or end alimony once the relationship is proven. There’s no automatic one-year rule. Judges look at the facts, like living together, sharing expenses, and mixing finances. Learn more about modifying alimony.
More Than One Home, Often in More Than One State
Many older couples own a Florida home plus a place up north. A Florida judge can divide out-of-state real estate as part of the marital estate. Common options:
- One spouse keeps one home, and the other keeps the other.
- One spouse keeps a home and buys out the other, often by refinancing.
- The homes are sold, and the net proceeds are split.
Don’t rely on tax assessments or online estimates for value. Florida’s homestead tax cap keeps assessed values low, which says little about what a home will actually sell for. Get a real appraisal. If there are several homes, a business, or large investment accounts, see our page on high-asset divorce.
Health Insurance and Medicare
Health care is often the biggest worry in a silver divorce. Plan for it early:
- After the final judgment, you usually can’t stay on your ex’s employer health plan.
- COBRA may let you keep that coverage for up to 36 months after a divorce, but you pay the full premium.
- If you’re 65 or older, plan for Medicare and a supplement or Medicare Advantage plan.
- Judges can consider health insurance costs when deciding alimony.
Build your health care costs into your budget and settlement. Don’t let your coverage lapse.
Your Estate Plan: What Changes Automatically, and What Doesn’t
Divorce and estate planning are closely linked, especially later in life. Florida law automatically cancels some things that favor an ex-spouse, but not everything, and not always when you’d expect.
| Document | What Florida law does | When |
|---|---|---|
| Will | Provisions for your ex are void. The will is read as if your ex died. See § 732.507. | At the final judgment |
| Revocable trust | Provisions for your ex are generally treated the same way. See § 736.1105. | At the final judgment |
| Life insurance, IRA and other beneficiary designations | A designation of your ex is generally void. See § 732.703. But not if federal law controls the account, or if the divorce order requires you to keep your ex as beneficiary. | At the final judgment |
| Durable power of attorney | Your spouse’s authority as your agent ends. See § 709.2109. | When the divorce is filed |
| Health care surrogate | Your spouse’s designation is revoked. See § 765.104. | At the final judgment |
Three traps to watch for:
- Federal plans don’t follow Florida’s rule. Many 401(k)s and employer life insurance policies are governed by federal law. Florida’s automatic rule may not apply to them. If your ex is still the named beneficiary, the money may go to your ex. Change the form yourself once the divorce allows it.
- Your spouse is still your spouse until the judgment. If you die while the divorce is pending, your spouse may still inherit and may still have rights to a share of your estate. Talk to your lawyer about what you can safely update during the case.
- Your backups may be outdated. Once your ex is removed, your documents may point to a backup who has died or who no longer makes sense.
Even if you do nothing else, update your health care surrogate, living will, and power of attorney. Someone needs clear authority to make medical decisions and pay your bills if you can’t.
Using Trusts in a Settlement
In higher-asset cases, a trust-and-estates lawyer can help build a cleaner settlement. For example:
- A trust or annuity instead of monthly alimony. A lump sum funds steady payments for the recipient and gives the payer finality. It can also make sure what’s left passes to the children.
- Keeping a family business running. One spouse keeps voting control, while the other receives a share of the value through non-voting shares or a trust.
- Protecting children from a prior marriage. Planning can make sure specific assets pass to the kids long-term.
Putting assets in a trust during the marriage usually won’t hide them from a divorce court. If you’re planning to remarry, a well-drafted prenup is still the most reliable way to protect what you want to pass to your children.
Bifurcation: A Rare Exception
Florida judges generally don’t like to finalize the divorce first and sort out the money later. This is called bifurcation. Courts may allow it in extraordinary cases, like when a spouse is gravely ill. Don’t count on it. In most cases, everything is resolved together.
Adult Children and Family
A silver divorce can strain relationships with adult children and grandchildren. Keep them informed in a way that makes sense, but don’t make them your therapist or your ally in the case. Pulling family into the fight rarely helps, and it can do lasting damage.
The Bottom Line
A silver divorce is part legal case, part retirement plan. Get accurate values, plan for monthly income and health care, and update your estate plan. The decisions you make now have to last the rest of your life, so it’s worth taking the time to get them right. For more, see what to do before filing for divorce and divorce mediation in Florida. Learn more about our Florida divorce lawyers.
This article is for general information and is not legal or tax advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.