Somewhere around 2007, a new phrase entered the vocabulary of the divorce attorney: “gray divorce.” It was once virtually unheard of for couples who had been together for decades to divorce, no matter how decayed the bonds of their matrimony — now, it’s becoming much more commonplace. Some divorce attorneys think they know the reason for the trend — it’s really as simple as the fact that human longevity has increased. People are living longer and staying healthier well into their seventh and eighth decades. Only a few generations past, someone who was aged 60 or older might decide that the hassle of a divorce was pointless, given how much longer he or she expected to live an active lifestyle. Now, people approaching their 60s are seeing a future for themselves with another 20-25 healthy, active years and deciding that they don’t want to spend the last 20-25 years of their lives in a miserable marriage. Hopefully, you can avoid joining their ranks by following a few simple pieces of advice; — Don’t assume that just because you’re okay with the marriage that your spouse is also okay with the marriage. Talk about where you each are, emotionally, as you start to approach those “gray” years. — Take a frank assessment of your romantic life. Is it what you need it to be? Have all the other hassles of life gotten in the way and made you forget to pay attention to that part of your relationship? It’s time to

Hidden assets are a major concern for divorce lawyers. Not only are they illegal, they can end up causing major headaches down the road. That’s exactly what lies behind the troubles facing the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. The Institute was gifted a total of $63 million over the years by it’s largest benefactor — which certainly has earned him some significant accolades that he must value far more than the money. Unfortunately, it seems like a portion of those funds were part of the marital assets that he actively hid from his wife at the time of their divorce. Now, she would like her portion paid back — which could put the Institute in a crunch if it has already spent or allocated the money to one of its programs. It will also likely tarnish the reputation of its benefactor permanently, despite the size of his donations. The Institute’s benefactor and his wife of 50 years divorced in 2010. During the process, the benefactor stated that he did not have any offshore accounts — conveniently forgetting about a tidy $4.5 million tucked away in a Swiss Account. That $4.5 million became part of a larger donation — $40 million — transferred to the Institute in 2014. The Institute’s benefactor may have thought that he was safe from his ex-wife’s scrutiny by then, or that the money would be able to transfer undetected, but that clearly wasn’t the case. Perhaps he thought that it was simply too late, now that