Mediate Michigan

If any couple had long- term relationships figured out, it was Al and Tipper Gore. At least that’s what we thought.

People were shocked and disappointed to learn that the former vice president and his wife were getting divorced after 40 years of marriage and raising four kids. What could cause a seemingly solid couple to crumble after making it work for so long?

Divorce experts say baby boomers such as the Gores (Al is 62 and Tipper is 61) are the first generation of older people who aren’t going to be sticking it out no matter what.

Census data from 2004 show fewer marriages standing the test of time. For people who wed between 1955 and 1984, those reaching their 20th anniversary dropped 20 percent.

Most people who divorce do so early in their marriage. Census data from 2001 shows first marriages that end in divorce last about eight years. Even though there has been a slight decline in the overall divorce rate, there has been a rise in late-life “gray divorce” — split-ups of people between 50 and 59 — to about 40 percent for men and women, according to Erica Manfred, a New York boomer-divorce expert and author of “He’s History, You’re Not: Surviving Divorce After 40.”

via Women getting feet under them after “gray divorce” – The Denver Post.