Really? Married 18 years, two teens at home and you only work part-time and the lawyer doesn't think you'll get much alimony?
Hi, Ellie I saw this and I thought I would jump in. This was almost exactly my situation at the time of my divorce. What I learned is that in my state, there is no such thing as "alimony" but there is "spousal support". The goal of "spousal support" is that the spouse with the lower income is "supported" until they are capable of earning enough to support themselves. In my case I worked the entire marriage, but never more than 1/2 time. I helped my H go through graduate school and get his masters. We struggled financially for the first 16-17 years of marriage while he was getting his career going. By the time of the D we had a decent income, yet the mediator we were seeing had determined that I was NOT entitled to very much since I (during the last few years of the marriage) had benefited enough from his education that my sacrifices and hard work were for the community good. My oldest child was about to turn 18. In CA child support ends at 18 unless special considerations are written into the agreement. So I determined that in my case it was better to get the house (forever) rather than a temporary (and would have been stingy) support agreement.
Survival Goddess "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." -Alice Walker
