Does Length of Marriage Affect a Divorce Outcome?

When you’ve decided it’s time to get a divorce, there are so many things that you must then deal with. You will have to separate your lives entirely, and that can be very difficult. If you have children, you must also deal with child custody and child support issues.

In all the craziness, one of the many questions you may not have time to answer will be whether the length of your marriage will affect your divorce outcome. The simple answer is yes, it can, but it’s complicated. Let’s go into a few areas that may be affected by how long your marriage lasted.

Factors California Courts Consider When Deciding Alimony

First, there’s the issue of alimony. If you were only married for six months, it’s doubtful that you will have to pay a lot to an ex in the way of alimony or that a spouse would have to pay a lot to you. Anything is possible, but the court will consider how long the marriage lasted when deciding how much and for how long alimony must be paid.

Now, consider a marriage that lasted for thirty years. Let’s go even further and say that one of you didn’t work during the marriage to stay home and care for the children.

A judge is definitely going to consider these factors when deciding spousal support. In this way, the length of a marriage will definitely impact your divorce in California.

Division of Assets and Debts

This is another major area where the court will care about the length of your marriage. If a couple divorces very quickly, they won’t have had much time to accumulate “community property.” It’s very likely a court will allow each party to take what he or she brought into the marriage and part ways.

When a marriage is long-lasting, it becomes extremely difficult to separate assets and debts. Even if both parties brought property or financial assets into the marriage, they’ve likely become mixed together to the point that it would be almost impossible to separate them.

At that point, the court may take the tactic of dividing all community property in the fairest way possible, making an even split, regardless of what each spouse brought into the marriage.

Get in Touch with a Rancho Cucamonga Divorce Lawyer

Divorce is one of the most emotionally difficult situations a person can go through, and there’s not a whole lot you can do to make it less traumatic. One of the only things you can do to make the process go a little more smoothly is work with a qualified and experienced divorce lawyer. Going it alone may not serve your best interests.

Your lawyer can walk you through every divorce procedure and will help you understand all the goings-on. It is possible to get through this process and come out with the best-case scenario for your situation. Contact the Law Office of Laurence J. Brock for an initial consultation. Dial 909-466-7661 or fill out the online case information form below.