The length of the marriage is one of the factors a Georgia court must weigh in setting alimony, but no number of years guarantees an award or fixes its size.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-6-5(a)(2) lists “[t]he duration of the marriage” among the factors that “shall be considered in determining the amount of alimony, if any.”
Length Is Not Dispositive
In Sprouse v. Sprouse, 285 Ga. 468 (2009), the couple had a common law marriage in Alabama, divorced, resumed living together, and married again in 2005. The husband filed for divorce in 2007, and the trial court awarded alimony running about thirteen years, observing that the parties “have been together for 13 years.” The husband argued that the years before the 2005 marriage should not have counted, since Georgia does not recognize palimony.
The Georgia Supreme Court held that the duration factor does not include premarital cohabitation, but that under the catchall in OCGA 19-6-5(a)(8) the trial “court is free to consider the parties’ entire relationship, including periods of pre-marital cohabitation.” It added that “no one factor is dispositive,” and affirmed.
Long Marriages in Recent Cases
For example, in Williams v. Williams, 362 Ga. App. 839 (2022), the parties had been married for 17 years and the wife had been a stay-at-home mother for most of it. The Court of Appeals upheld $4,000 a month for up to ten years plus ten percent of the husband’s annual bonus.
Likewise, in Pryce v. Pryce, 359 Ga. App. 590 (2021), the couple had been married since 1996. The trial court awarded the wife alimony until she died or remarried, considering the length of the marriage, her years as a stay-at-home mother, her lack of a retirement account, and the gap between the parties’ incomes, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.
So a long marriage strengthens a claim, but it decides nothing by itself.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!