I was not quite at 15 years (11 years). I have worked our entire marriage. I get four figures per month and the first number on the check is not "1". We have no children. He also pays my health/dental/vision insurance and I am to remain the sole beneficiary on all his insurance/investment accounts until I remarry. I also was awarded 80% of our liquid assets and he had to pay all my legal fees. Oh, and he had to leave the home and was only permitted to take his clothes and personal belongings with him.
Funny what people will give up when their affair is about to be blown wide open via a trial.
Criteria varies by state. I live in a fault state. I am also considered "unhealthy" as per my state's criteria (I have SLE). In my state the number of years you are married, age and health of both spouses (we are both 35 btw) and children (does not apply to us) are considered. That and the fault based judgement.
We are now legally separated (have been since Nov. of 2009) so he has fulfilled almost one year of obligation. He has four more to go. I will be filing for divorce this Dec. and will request an increase in spousal maint. I am only requesting an increase to be compensated for the bills I paid while we were legally separated while he dragged his feet tending to portions of the agreement.
My H opted to leave the marriage once I was diagnosed with lupus. Only I didn't know he left the marriage since he was "playing" married (with a GF on the side). I certainly did not choose to have SLE. Had I known he would bail when I got sick I never would have married him in the first place. Affairs are serious business in my state (NY) and I simply requested I be financially compensated for the decade plus I invested in someone that felt they could pick and choose what vows to honor.
ETA: Of course we had communication issues but none that warranted an affair. Once I was diagnosed I begged my H to become involved with me and my health crises C and he said no. He said he simply resented the fact that I was sick too much. Is that his whole reason? No. But it was the "final" reason.
