Divorce Income Gap: Pew Findings Discussed On 'This Morning' (VIDEO)

On CBS "This Morning" Wednesday, financial correspondent Carmen Wong Ulrich weighed in on a new Pew Research Center report that found women are now faring better financially than men post-divorce.

"The wage gap is closing between men and women and the good byproduct is, when it comes to having a divorce, we are actually doing better in some way than men," she said of the findings, published last week by The Pew Economic Mobility Project.

According to Ulrich, women see financial gains of 25 percent post-divorce. Comparatively, men see a 16 percent gain after a split.

Ulrich suggested that women's gains in higher education have led to the change.

"We are getting more education, so we have bigger jobs with bigger pay," she said.

Comments

[Fonsini]

03:57 PM on 05/07/2012

Are you kidding me, I am HUGELY better off now that I'm divorced.

I suspect that alimony and child support payments are the main factor in play here, that's what destroys divorced men financially.

[NobleTry]

08:52 PM on 05/01/2012

We men let it happen to ourselves, you know. We cannot get around thinking of women as poor helpless things, in need of being taken care of, no matter what. To our own detriment. But it's for the children. Remember that when you're writing your next alimony and child support check and thinking how she's turning your own children against you ala "The Corrections".

[Tribeguy]

06:50 PM on 02/22/2012

Its 2012, people, in the land of the free, supposedly. No adult should be forced, under threat of imprisonment, to support another, over age 21, healthy adult, the only exception being older spouses from a long-term marriage....and then only temporarily. Feminists have conned us.

Either way, America has waaaaaaaaay too many lawyers.

[davesque]

03:21 PM on 03/31/2012

Your comment speaks volumes of truth. I was married to a woman who has not worked a day in the last 11 years. Now she filed for divorce and is looking to destroy me financially. She is healthy and educated, but why work when you can be a parasite and live off of your spouse's hard work? I run an office and often work past midnight. This current system is disgusting.

[Fenrir Lokison]

05:49 PM on 04/10/2012

2012? I think way back even before that.

Other than marital assets and in cases where their are clear signs of forced enslavement of the partner as a stay at home parent and/or if certain activities, such as abuse has signs of physical, mental, and/or emotional damage, then yes there should be some kind of compensation. But, if this was a no fault divorce or just based on adultery, then there should be no alimony.

[WorkersUnited]

06:00 PM on 01/24/2012

And it has nothing to do with the fact that men typically get financially shafted in divorce?

[Selac]

04:06 PM on 04/26/2012

Because we allow it to happen. Men should be able to claim finacial hardship and have a 20% income privilege. I applaud that some states are doing away with lifetime alimony.

[Libertarian5]

08:47 PM on 01/23/2012

I'm so glad that our life circumstances when we got married did not allow her to go on a permanent holiday ("Housewife"). Should she get antsy and divorce me now, after 25 years, it'll hurt my heart, but at least not my finances. Too many men still have this 1950s ego-trip, a la "if I bring home da bacun, then only a full-time housewife should fry it in da pan!" That's a recipe for disaster.

[Cameron Hoppe]

11:21 AM on 01/22/2012

I'll just say this....Anyone who decides they want to quit earning a paycheck and instead be a full time parent/househusband/housewife needs to make a full time job out of keeping the other adult in the relationship happy and content. If you don't, you will find yourself high and dry with out dated skills and trying to figure out how to get by on minimum wage. Think that's a bad arrangement? Get in the working world and stay in it.

Everyone wants to own a horse but nobody wants to shovel manure. Just sayin'.

[craichead2011]

12:21 PM on 01/25/2012

So true. I can't for the life of me understand someone who brings a child into the world to be responsible for and then immediately gives up their ability to earn a living. It doesn't make any sense.

[BeckySoo]

12:44 AM on 01/22/2012

And also, increasingly in "joint custody" case, the children live with the father a full 50% of the time, yet he still has to pay the state mandated child support to the mother (in New York State, anyway, as one parent must be designated the "primary custodian" and that is almost always the mother).

So dad now has to pay for two households, even if the mom is working.
Terribly unfair and nothing a dad can change without spending tens of thousands trying to fight it.

[Cadillac Jack]

01:05 AM on 01/22/2012

Same laws apply in Pa. Very unfair. The mother does not have to provide any proof of the money spent. Even if you and their family is aware most of the cash is spent on alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and garbage food.

[BeckySoo]

01:25 AM on 01/22/2012

I suspect the laws will change in another generation or so, when the courts consider how much fathers are now involved in their children's lives (as opposed to previous generations). In many cases, child support in 50-50 custody cases is simply punishing the father rather than allowing both working parents to support the kids in each of their homes as they are able.

There is simply no justification for the calculated percentage to apply in these cases; and if mom doesn't buy the kids what they need, the financial burden falls to dad in addition to what he's giving mom each month.

Sadly, most dads just struggle through it, setting up a future for the kids where they are unable to save for college, etc., rather than risk the enormous expense, financially and emotionally, of fighting in court. Judges make it clear (I've heard of many cases in orange County, NY) that they are completely uninterested in hearing the issue. They simply tell dad to pay up, or make him feel guilty for bringing up the "money issue".

Difficult emotionally when you cannot take your kids on vacations or purchase things they "want" because you have to worry that "needs" are being met in two separate households. And see no evidence that the mom is spending any of the money given her on the children. Difficult, additionally, to know that the Family Court system refuses to review each case on it's own terms.

[Spike5]

11:11 AM on 01/23/2012

In Florida, there are formulae that calculate how much each should pay. My grandson lives with his father 50% of the time (alternate weeks) and according to the formula, his mother (who earns more) should be paying his father child support.

In fact, they ended up agreeing that each would pay all expenses for the weeks the child lived with each one and split the costs of all medical expenses 50-50 and now that he is in school, each one pays for the before-school and after-school care for their own weeks.

They did agree the parent who earned more should get the tax deduction (is that what you mean by 'primary custodian?).

[BeckySoo]

11:28 AM on 01/23/2012

In New York, one parent must be designated as "primary" even in cases of joint custody, and with that title comes child support. Tax deduction issues are generally written into the divorce stipulations and not automatic to the primary, though usually that's the case.

The operative word in your comment is "agreeing". Too often, parents will not agree, or one parent simply will not discuss anything unless dictated by the court. In New York, if the mother is unwilling to do what is "fair", you have a situation like I described above. Child support becomes a way to punish the father; the mother spends the money on herself only, or saves it for her future use.

[Cadillac Jack]

11:22 PM on 01/21/2012

The way to a woman’s heart is through your wallet.

[debraddeatoon]

12:28 PM on 01/22/2012

We are not all like that.I supported my looser husband for a time untill I said I am done get the f out.

[Cadillac Jack]

12:58 PM on 01/22/2012

I do know that debraddeatoon. Just haven't met her yet. I was being comical. Helps with what me and my daughter were put through. I told the cheating mother of my child the same thing you told your ex. I doubted that decision for years until I found out she did the same thing to the man of her dreams she left me for.

[lizp33558]

10:41 AM on 03/01/2012

good for you, no woman should be supporting a healthy abled bodied man

[Bradley J Hawthorne]

08:51 PM on 01/21/2012

women are better post divorce because of the men they married. for example Vanessa Bryant. she waited 6 months after their 10 year anniversary to file for divorce which only brings someone to speculate that it intentionally done. she insured that she and her family would be taken care of for life, her family not being to girls she had by Kobe Bryant but the other side of things, mother, brothers, sisters, aunts uncles. smh they're finally getting to this issue of a woman's right to abort a child as a religious employee, they also need to get to this issue of fairness in divorce proceedings. "Bitch You wasn't wit me when I was Shooting in the Gym"-Drake

[jamesf135]

03:22 PM on 01/21/2012

Thats alll fine and good but I thought the most important thing was the children, sounds like gold diggers to me...

[joynoise]

05:58 PM on 01/20/2012

The video says 20 percent of women will see gains of more than 25% of income after a divorce. What about the other 80% of women? Well, as the video says, single mothers do the worst. Based on this information, I don't see how they can claim that divorced women in general are doing better financially than divorced men!

[coptic777]

12:07 PM on 02/07/2012

You can gain up to 70% of a mans assets in a divorce period. You can try to get around this fact if you like & deny what is going which is stealing through the legal system.

[Quis Custodiet]

05:42 PM on 01/20/2012

Uh..."more education" in what exactly? Skimming off the goose that lays golden eggs?

Considering the payment and receipt balances between men and women following a divorce the reason for the gap is plain and simple. Men are the ones paying the alimony, giving up assets, and getting a leash put around their necks until the kids hit 18 years old. When was the last time a woman paid a divorce settlement to a man? Madonna?

[lizp33558]

10:45 AM on 03/01/2012

the man is also the parent, of course he should pay

[maidenofdforest]

05:38 PM on 01/20/2012

That's good news. On women getting more education!

[Quis Custodiet]

05:43 PM on 01/20/2012

Major: "Squeezing Cash out of Suckers" (also known as: Sociology, Communications, Education, Fine Arts, Fashion Design)
Minor: "Fraternity Ho"

I think that sums it up.

[maidenofdforest]

05:49 PM on 01/20/2012

Undercurrents?

[maidenofdforest]

06:28 PM on 01/20/2012

Sorry, your last reply was deleted before I could get into it.

Marriage PTSD?

[debraddeatoon]

12:29 PM on 01/22/2012

I agree with you, I also think we do not need a man to take care of us or to make us happy.Remember that ladies.

[maidenofdforest]

03:59 PM on 01/22/2012

Amen to that!

[Morgenstern]

04:34 PM on 01/20/2012

They're doing better because the men they were married to have to give them money now.

[Quis Custodiet]

05:45 PM on 01/20/2012

Precisely..

But you know, this is America 2012. Political correctness demands that we give women credit for the female friendly divorce judges who view all men as morally decrepit slime that sneaks around on its wife. To hell with evidence. The woman said she *feels* that she has been cheated on because her husband has not touched her in months (after she gained 60 lbs) therefore it must be true.

[Bradley J Hawthorne]

08:55 PM on 01/21/2012

Women are just more secretive about their infidelity than men. They honestly believe that it isn't a lie unless they get caught and will take secrets to their deaths beds before admitting to any wrong doing.

[debraddeatoon]

12:31 PM on 01/22/2012

I didnt get a dime from my looser husband, nor did I want any, and I am doing great I have my own business a lot of hard work paid off in the end.

[Libertarian5]

08:51 PM on 01/23/2012

More Power to you, then! You are a shiny exception, and I really respect that you made your life without robbing your ex.

[Jillale]

11:01 AM on 01/20/2012

I would have to disagree with this. Where are they getting this data from? Is it from the number of women enrolling in College,post -divorce, with hopes of a higher earning potential? I work with Divorcees and have found that most women looking to get back into the work force after 15 years of married and raising kids have no chance. They don't have the skills or the experience required for jobs that would make them any real money. Men on the other hand, continue to have the same if not more opportunities in the workplace. Most studies show that Men's careers get better once they have flown the nest.

[imhappy]

11:20 AM on 01/20/2012

You are absolutely right. What a load of ____! I am 57. I have been away from the workforce 15 years to be a f/t mom and I could not get a break. I was in the hotel business for 13 years but I am 15 years far removed from it and when I am lucky enough to land an interview, I do not get past the first. I also acquired a paralegal certificate, straight-A student, but I am too fledgling to get a break. I wake up every day anxious and petrified. It is no way to live.

[Bold Err]

12:22 PM on 01/20/2012

You chose to use your alimony to pursue the wrong career.

Paralegal? Even the most experienced paralegals barely make a living. You should have chosen nursing or another field with better prospects.

If your husband decided to change his career from computers to woodworking and wanted to lower your child support and alimony to be based on his new $10/hour job, how much sympathy would you have for him?

[Libertarian5]

08:53 PM on 01/23/2012

Why were you a full-time mom? That's so 1950ish.

[BrimstoneAshe]

05:17 PM on 01/20/2012

My guess is the ratio of women working while married is the difference. During my marriage both my wife and I had full time jobs while raising two kids. She still has her job, I still have mine, but once we got divorced, she suddenly had an extra paycheck once a month and I had new bill. Even though we get the kids 50/50.