Walk It Through: The Long Marriage
One year apart, alimony for a dependent spouse, and marital misconduct that can decide it outright.
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. Postseparation support, the amount and length of alimony, and custody 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.
- Dependent spouseThe spouse alimony is paid to, on the court's finding that one spouse is dependent, the other supporting, and an award is equitable.
- Equitable distributionThe court's division of marital and divisible property, equal by net value unless an equal division is not equitable.
- Separate and apartThe ground for divorce: either spouse may get one once they have lived separate and apart for one year and either has lived in the state for six months.
- MisconductWillful or wanton disregard of the employer's interest, deliberately breaking standards the employer can expect, or carelessness so serious or repeated that it shows intentional disregard; it disqualifies a claimant from benefits.