I did not think I would be going the route of a lawyer with my divorce. We have no property together, and already settled everything between the two of us. However, with recent news of an affair that was kept secret I am leaning more towards having a lawyer. Really all I want from him would be alimony, but I am not sure I would get a dime from him. Right now through our separation agreement he pays me 26% of his monthly income to help offset bills until our divorce is final (which will not be until March). We agreed upon that. I would like to fight towards getting alimony if possible, but I am not sure if I would qualify. How do I figure that out? We had a short marriage… separated at a year and 1/2… so divorce will be at 2 1/2 years and he only makes about 3-5 thousand dollards more than me a year. I am a teacher and only make around 33K a year and he makes about 36K a year. Do I even have a chance?
I would honestly say that you don’t have a case for alimony. The main reason for this is that you wouldn’t be able to establish to the court that you are the dependent spouse, since you both make virtually the same amount of money. Additionally, your marriage was of a short duration, and it ends with the date of separation (1.5 years in your case). While there is no hard and fast rule in NC, generally you can think of alimony as lasting approximately half the length of the marriage, although this is left up to the judge if it goes to trial.