When is a marriage considered "long term"?
In order to get permanent alimony, you usually have to have a "long term" marriage. So how long is that?
Well, in Florida, that depends on where you live. In most places, the marriage must have lasted at least 17 years to be considered long term.
The Tampa Bay area is an exception. Most judges here believe that 14 years is enough time for a marriage to be considered long term.
2 Comments:
And if you are in a gray area, say, a 10 year marriage, what are the chances of "permanent" alimony if the wife did not work outside the home during the marriage choosing instead to stay at home while the husband ran the family business?
When deciding on alimony, can a Judge legally consider or take into account the number of years in which the couple were living together before the marriage, especially if the wife had a hand in starting up the family business?
Good question. Like you've said, you're in the "gray area" between 7 years, where most judges agree there should be no alimony and 17 years (13 years in Tampa Bay), where most judges would agree there should be alimony.
When marriages are in the gray area, judges look to other factors to determine alimony. Two things are critcal: 1) why isn't one spouse working and 2) what will the nonworking spouse's lifestyle be once the marriage has ended?
If one spouse quit working to raise children, we can add points to the nonworking spouse's chances of getting alimony. If the nonworking spouse quit a job just to sponge off the working spouse, points can be subtracted from the odds of getting permanent alimony. You get the idea. There can many factors that affect the odds of getting alimony.
If the nonworking spouse will be destitute without the working spouse, then the odds of permanent alimony go up. But if the nonworking spouse just needs some time to finish college or get back into the workforce, the odds of permanent alimony go down in favor of some form of temporary alimony or no alimony at all.
Can a judge consider time spent living together? Well, the judge could consider it, but it isn't likely. The Florida appellate courts have said divorce judges can consider just about anything when it comes to alimony, but time spent living together is almost never a factor that judges take into account in determining alimony (or anything else).
What about the wife helping to start the family business? It may affect alimony, but more likely a judge would award the wife an interest (called a "special equity") in the business rather than award alimony.
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