QUESTION
Alimony to an European spouse from U.S. citizen
Asked on Aug 19th, 2015 on Divorce - Nevada
More details to this question:
I am married to a U.S. citizen and he now, after being married for 20 months, wants a divorce. I've lived with him for the past year, pending on approval of visa in the U.S. while he was serving in the U.S. Army. Now since I am back in Denmark, do I have a right to demand or receive any alimony from him? We also bought furniture together, so how do I get a share of the value of the things that we bought together to create our home? I gave up my job a year ago and have not been able to work in the U.S., so my funds of money are extremely limited. He has the savings. How do I go about it?
1 ANSWER
The short answer to your question is "yes." Your location has no impact at all on your rights to obtain spousal support (alimony) -- except as a practical matter of litigating at a distance. For a complete explanation, see the materials posted at http://willicklawgroup.com/spousal-supportalimony/, including the posted article below the video called:
Final Copy of “A Universal Approach to Alimony: How Alimony Should Be Calculated and Why” as Printed in the AAML Journal (March, 2015)
There are many other resources you should read as well, including much on the page called http://willicklawgroup.com/military-retirement-benefits/, although your rights to the pension itself are relatively modest given a marriage of less than two years. But yes, you should be able to obtain a resolution of property issues. You do not say where in the U.S. he is, or where the case might be filed, and procedures vary widely from state to state; I presume that your case will be in Nevada, since you are asking me the question, but if not, you should direct your inquiry to a practitioner in the state where the case will be.
Answered on Aug 19th, 2015 at 11:11 AM