Husband due alimony, share of assets
QI met my wife on a blind date shortly after we both graduated from college. We were in love, so married we got. There was a time I worked and she started and finished her Ph.D. I used up a $70,000 trust to meet our shortfalls. She got a job at a college in another state, to which we moved. I got a job as an administrative supervisor in the same college.
She didn’t like, and then quit, that job and spent two years getting an MBA. But we had to move near that college, so my next job was at far reduced pay. After earning the MBA, she started working at an investment company and was certified as a financial analyst. She then changed jobs to a new company in another state. So we bought a home in a new city, where we lived for several years. Over time she became a portfolio manager and got stock in the company.
After 35 years of marriage, my wife encouraged me to retire, which I did. Then we talked about moving from our home to another nearby community.
We signed the papers to sell our house on a Saturday. We were supposed to sign papers to buy our new house on the following Monday. On that Sunday, my wife told me she’d been having a five-year affair and that she was moving in with her male friend. Since then, I’ve learned she paid the college expenses for her male-friend’s child.
What can I do?
AYou need cash for your daily needs, rent, etc. So tell you wife that you will not sign the deed to sell the old house unless you get all the net cash. When the other assets are divided, then your wife will be credited with half the cash from the house. At that time, you should get a credit for one-half the money paid for the son of her male friend.
You also need to file for divorce and go to court to force your wife to pay you temporary alimony. The relatively new Alimony Reform Act provides you also will get permanent alimony from the date of the divorce until either your death or when your wife reaches her Social Security retirement age. To get alimony beyond that time, you’d need to prove you have a “need.” Look at my website — NissenbaumHickey.com — to get more details.
Your wife should have substantial money in her company’s profit-sharing plan or other retirement fund, 401(k), deferred income, stock, stock options and so on. An experienced divorce lawyer will know how to get all the money and assets on the table.
Gerald L. Nissenbaum has been a trial lawyer in Boston since 1967 and concentrates his practice on family law. Any legal advice in this column is general in nature, and does not establish a lawyerclient relationship. Send questions to dearjerry@bostonherald.com.