Interesting to note that the advice I got from my L yesterday was:
"You are on the cusp of being required to pay life-long alimony. Right now you can still argue that this is a short-term marriage and spousal support is only required for a few years. Afterward you can move on with your life. If you wait longer, then you will be into "life-long" alimony, so if the marriage is going to end (an in his opinion it "most likely will") then get started now. File quickly. Don't wait"
This is coming from a L who can't represent me due to some conflicts that he has, so he wasn't looking to make any $ - his advice was free and without personal interest.
It shows why bringing in the L's can speed the whole D process onward.
Just a quick note on this. My relative who is one of the top divorce Lawyers here told me that those rules are not hard and fast and lifelong alimony is much more difficult to justify if someone is of sound mind and body. He was actually encouraging me to file before the ten year mark because he said that either way I would be expected to get back to work within a reasonable time frame. Not sure if I'm making my point succinctly but I don't think this issue should influence what you do regarding filing for D.
