After 38 years of marriage, Lyn Siddle decided to change her life and separate from her husband. Her story is not an isolated case.

Lyn Siddle, a 67-year-old businesswoman from Southport in England, has separated from her 74-year-old husband after 38 years of marriage. As the British newspaper “Mirror” reports, Lyn made this decision after the two had grown apart and their four children had left home.

The death of a good friend was a turning point for Lyn: she decided to take her life into her own hands and began traveling through Central America, India, Australia and Asia.

The decision to separate after so many years of marriage is not uncommon. Even in Germany. A study by the Federal Statistical Office shows a significant increase in divorces among couples who have been married for more than 25 years. In 1997, 19,100 long-term marriages ended in divorce, but by 2022, this figure had risen to 24,300 marriages. “Late divorces” in particular are on the rise and now account for one in six divorces.

According to psychotherapists and divorce counselors, the reason for this is the decreasing inhibition threshold to attempt radical changes in old age. This is reported by the “Frankfurter Allgemeine”. Women in particular are often the initiators here.

Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Bern, also sees another explanation in the increasing life expectancy. “Anyone who is 60 years old today and has been married for decades often still has a quarter of a century ahead of them,” Perrig-Chiello told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine”.

The average length of marriage is also continuously decreasing in Germany and Europe. The average length of marriage before divorce was 14.3 years in 2009 and rose to 15.0 years by 2016. From 2017, the length of marriage will fall to 14.7 years by 2020. Couples in Germany are currently married for an average of just under 15 years.

Serious allegations are rocking the Graz University Hospital. A neurosurgeon is said to have taken her underage daughter into the operating room and actively participated in the operation.

A young man dismantled his suitcase at Mallorca airport shortly before departure in order to avoid the additional fee for hand luggage.