Divorce After A Long Separation
Married couples, even if they live in separate residences and even if they can barely stand to be in the same room together, have the right to manage their finances as they choose. If you pay your wife much more money than she needs in the hopes that, when you finally summon the courage to divorce her and marry your girlfriend, she will have saved enough money that she will not ask you for alimony, that is your business. It is also your business if you and your spouse keep going deeper into debt to maintain separate residences, simply because you cannot stand to live together. If you divorce, though, you will have to account for every penny before the court. The court can even order temporary alimony to be paid while your divorce case is in process. Ugly truths that you have been avoiding for years will surface during your divorce case, such as the true amount of money you need to afford necessities, your ability or lack thereof to work, and whether you can afford to keep all of your assets. It isn’t easy to divorce after a long separation, but a Boca Raton division of assets lawyer can make the process as painless as possible.
Court Imputes Income to Wife Who Has No Intention of Returning to the Workforce
Katrina and John lived separately for 14 years before they filed for divorce. The court does not say how long they were married before they separated or how old the parties were when the case went to trial, but the court decision does indicate that, by the time of the trial, Katrina had been out of the workforce for more than 20 years, and John had been supporting her financially. While their case was pending, the court assigned an amount of pendente lite alimony for John to pay to Katrina after it determined that Katrina had exaggerated her monthly expenses; in so doing, it imputed minimum wage income to her, because it reasoned that she was capable of working.
Katrina appealed the amount of temporary alimony and the fact that the court had imputed income to her. The appeals court ruled that it was wrong for the trial court to impute alimony to Katrina when John had not asked it to do so. Therefore, it awarded her more money in temporary alimony than the trial court had awarded her but less than she had originally requested.
Sometimes having a long separation before you file for divorce can make your divorce case simpler, but sometimes a pre-divorce separation only delays the sorting out of financial issues that will need to be resolved before you divorce.
Contact Schwartz | White About Divorce After an Unofficial Separation
Divorce requires you to sort out all of your financial issues that you procrastinated during your marriage. A South Florida property division lawyer can help you if separating from your spouse is a marathon rather than a sprint. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17562785194876427646&q=divorce+credible&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2012&as_yhi=2022
