Walk It Through: The Split
Irretrievably broken, equal time sharing presumed, and an equal division to start.
A pharmacist, married for years with one child, decides the marriage is over and asks what it takes to file.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One marriage and one house. Child support, bridge-the-gap alimony, and modifying a parenting plan are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Durational alimonyAlimony for a set period, not available after a marriage of less than 3 years, and limited to a share of the marriage's length: 50 percent of a short one, 60 percent of a moderate one, 75 percent of a long one.
- Equitable distributionDividing marital assets and liabilities, beginning from the premise that the distribution should be equal, after each spouse's nonmarital assets are set apart.
- Irretrievably brokenOne of the two grounds on which a dissolution of marriage is granted, pleaded generally; the other is the mental incapacity of a party.
- Time sharingThe schedule of a child's time with each parent. There is a rebuttable presumption that equal time sharing is in the child's best interests, and parental responsibility is shared unless that would be detrimental to the child.