05/02/2026
Debi Petriscak was 64 when her marriage ended after 38 years. The separation from the father of her four children upended the retirement she had been envisioning.
As part of the settlement, Petriscak, now 71, took ownership of the family home in Calabasas, Calif. But maintenance costs were high, and the memories made living in the house painful.
When she sold it about four years later, she was hit with a nearly $200,000 tax bill. Because she was filing as a single person, her capital gains tax exclusion dropped to $250,000 from $500,000.
This “single penalty” resulted in a substantial tax hit that she could have avoided had the home been sold soon after the divorce. And the sting didn't end there.
Here, Petriscak and three others open up to us about their post-divorce retirement finances and how they spend their time.
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