Charleston Law Blog

For some people in South Carolina, divorce can cause both emotional and financial stress. Studies show that this stress can be even more acute for adults who are older than 50, and divorce is on the rise among this age group.

Several studies on how divorce affects people have been conducted by the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green University. Divorce among older people is sometimes referred to as "gray divorce," and according to one study, it can cause higher rates of depression than the death of a spouse. Another study found that for women, a gray divorce meant a 45% drop in the standard of living. For men, the drop was 21%.

A trust may be a better choice than a will for some South Carolina residents. It can offer a number of advantages over a will, including more privacy since a trust does not have to go through probate. A trust can protect an estate from taxes, provide charitable contributions and protect assets from an irresponsible beneficiary as well as from creditors and divorce. A trust can provide for a spouse but ensure that children receive assets if the spouse remarries. It can allow assets to be left for a beneficiary with special needs without affecting that beneficiary's receipt of government benefits.

The person who creates a trust is known as the settlor, and the settlor appoints a trustee to manage the trust. A trustee has a number of duties related to the trust. The terms of the trust will specify how transparent the trustee must be with beneficiaries. The trustee is required to behave objectively toward beneficiaries and manage the assets in the trust responsibly.

Generally, millennials and members of Generation Z in South Carolina and other states have been more cautious about debt than earlier generations. Part of the reason for this is because many of them lived through the recession that took place around 2008-10. But this trend may be reversing as more individuals within the younger generation continue to accumulate credit card debt.

Among 18- to 29-year-olds, credit card delinquencies of 90 days or more passed the 8% mark for all balances within the first quarter of 2019, which represents a nearly 10-year high. Part of the reason for this trend may be the increase in appealing credit card signup bonuses and perks like travel credits. Interest rates are also on the rise after many years of being kept at very low levels, which further contributes to debt risk.

Parenting teenagers is sometimes difficult for South Carolina parents because adolescence brings with it physical and hormonal changes that could affect mood and behavior. Adding a divorce to this mix has the potential to make things even more volatile if parents no longer living together don't make an effort to avoid co-parenting mistakes.

One common co-parenting mistake with teens that divorcing parents sometimes make is failing to share information with each other. There's sometimes an assumption that a teen will tell each parent what's going on with them or exhibit the same behavior around each parent. Failing to communicate often leaves one or both parents in the dark. It's also not advised for co-parents to get into the habit of passing messages through their teen. Doing so sometimes results in messages either being delivered incorrectly or not at all.