Does the Length of my Marriage Affect my Divorce?

The length of your marriage does affect your divorce. First it can impact the distribution of the property because the court can award an unequal distribution. And second it can impact your ability to receive spousal support.

Distribution of Property

The longer a marriage has lasted, the more likely there will be an equal distribution of the marital pot. This is because the duration of the marriage is one of the factors a court can look to when making an unequal distribution.

In a longer marriage, the court will likely look at everything and award an equal distribution unless there is some historical income disparity between the spouses that would justify an unequal division. For instance one spouse may have supported the working spouse and now cannot maintain the same qualify of life after the divorce and would argue that they should receive a larger share of the marital pot as a result.

In a short marriage, the court will likely equally split assets that you acquired jointly but will likely not equally split things you brought into the marriage and acquired on your own prior to the marriage.

Spousal Support

The duration of the marriage also impacts spousal support. Here the court will look at income difference between the spouses as well as the length of a marriage. There is a greater chance there will be an award of spousal support if there is a long marriage with an income disparity between the parties.

Ultimately, these kinds of issues are fact sensitive and you need an attorney to help you develop and present a case that you should receive an award of spousal support or an unequal distribution of the martial pot.