Walk It Through: The Long Marriage
Ninety days' residence and thirty days after filing, maintenance only on need, and an order that says whether it can change.
After a long marriage, one spouse files for divorce.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One marriage and one order. Custody, the division of property, and child support 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.
- Equal parenting timeThe rebuttable presumption that equal or approximately equal parenting time with each parent is in the child's best interests.
- Irretrievably brokenThe finding for a judgment of dissolution: no reasonable likelihood the marriage can be preserved, after one spouse has lived in Missouri for the ninety days before filing and thirty days have passed since the petition.
- MaintenanceSupport a court may order to either spouse only on finding the spouse lacks enough property to meet reasonable needs and cannot support themselves through appropriate employment.