Meryl Streep and Don Gummer were married in 1978, and they’re still together after 39 years. But, Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries broke up after 72 days. What is the impact of the duration of your marriage on divorce?
Quickest Hollywood Marriages
After only one month of marriage, Golnes “GG” Gharachedaghi decided to end her marriage because “certain facts have come to GG’s attention that have made her realize her marriage can no longer continue, and, in fact, should never have happened.”
Britney Spears and Jason Alexander lasted for a whopping 55 hours in January 2004.
Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas were married when she was only 19 after only 6 weeks of dating. They filed for divorce after less than two months of marriage.
Florida and Length of Marriage
In Florida, the duration of marriage plays a very important role in divorce cases. I’ve written about the types of alimony awards available in Florida before. For instance, Florida Statutes dealing with alimony specifically limit the type of alimony awards based on the duration of the marriage.
So, for determining alimony, there is a rebuttable presumption that a short-term marriage is a marriage less than 7-years, a moderate-term marriage is greater than 7-years but less than 17-years, and long-term marriage is 17-years or greater.
Florida defines the duration of marriage as the period of time from the date of marriage until the date of filing of an action for dissolution of marriage.
The duration of marriage is also a factor in property divisions. When a court distributes the marital assets and liabilities between the parties, the court begins with the premise of an equal split.
However, there are times and cases which justify an unequal distribution based on several relevant factors. One of the factors a court can consider is the duration of marriage, in addition to other factors.
Celebrity Marriages
Given how important the duration of marriage can be for awarding alimony, and considering an unequal distribution of property, the marriage between Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley – in which Cage filed for divorce a mere 108 days later – would have a very different result than the marriage between Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick, which is going on 26-years.
The eonline article is here.