When Comedian Chris Rock filed for divorce in November 2006, the Internet was ablaze with claims that he was trying to avoid paying extra alimony -- because he'd been married less than 10 years. Tom Cruise filed for divorce from Nicole Kidman just before that milestone. Brendan and Afton Fraser called it quits in December after nine years of marriage, as did Ed Asner and Cindy Gilmore.            

But are they rushing to file just to save some money? California’s divorce laws don’t further the notion. This kind of legal maneuvering will not be successful in divorce court, said Goldie Schon, a celebrity divorce attorney with Nachshin and Weston LLP in Ls Angeles, Calif.  She represented Spice Girl Melanie Brown and Boxing Champion Oscar De La Hoya in their respective divorces.            

“While I am sure there are celebrities that have tried to divorce their spouses right before the 10 years with the hope that they will not be bound to pay spousal support until one of them dies or the payee spouse gets re-married, this type of game playing usually does not work with the family law court system,” Schon said.            

In California, courts consider marriages of more than 10 years long-term marriages. At the end of long-term marriages, spouses can have the right to get spousal support for a longer period of time. Usually, the court allows spouses whose marriages have been longer than 10 years to get spousal support for the rest of his or her life, or until remarriage, Schon said. 

For the spouses whose marriages lasted less than ten years, their support continues on for the number of years that is equal to half of the length of marriage. For example, if the divorcing couple had been married eight years, then spousal support would end four years after the divorce. This is not like a marital egg timer.  When 10 years are up, the landscape of the divorce won’t suddenly change. Just because a celebrity, or anyone in California, files for divorce before the 10-year mark, does not mean that the marriage will not be considered long-term, Schon said. 

 “The 10-year mark is not viewed by the courts as a strict line in the sand,”  Schon said. “Therefore, if a person has been married for 9 years, it too could be considered a marriage of long duration. The Court could treat a marriage of 9 years the same way they treat a marriage of 10 years or more. It is a gray area and is subjective to the facts of the each case.”            

The amount of time the couple, celebrity or not, has been married has little effect on the actual amount of spousal support ordered, Schon said. “The amount of spousal support is based upon many factors, one of the prevalent factors is income from all sources for both parties,”  Schon said.  


LONGER MARRIAGES MAY MEAN MORE OPTIONS  

A marriage that last 10 years or more has different support guidelines attached to it, said Jerry Cohen, CPA, a divorce financial analyst in California, whose Web site is http://www.financialsolutionsfordivorce.com. He said that, in his business, there are a variety of factors that come into play when determining spousal support, but that the length of marriage becomes a factor.