Canada’s aging population not only poses a number of problems in the economic and social spheres, but the family justice system is impacted as well. This paper examines age and other characteristics of the Canadian population, recent trends in divorce and remarriage, and the economic consequences of separation later in life. A number of legal issues surrounding later-in-life divorces are addressed, including the conflicting property interests of new spouses and adult children from previous marriages, the possibility that payors subsisting on fixed incomes may have concurrent support obligations to more than one spouse, and the divisibility of old age pensions and other public benefits.

This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s 50^th Annual Refresher in Lake Louise from May 7–9^th, 2017.