Question:  I live in Sandy Springs and my husband said he wants a divorce so I'm pretty shaken up now.  I need a Sandy Springs divorce lawyer now.  We have been married for almost 25 years.  We have 3 children.  We adopted two and had one by a surrogate.  He always worked and I stayed at home.  He said he didn't want me to have a job.  I did all the work around the house and raised the kids and I'm a gourmet cook.  One time I got a job but he made me quit after 2 weeks.

He has lost a lot of money gambling and he was treated for alcoholism and bi-polar disorder at Peachford.  He lost his job because he missed too many days of work.  But he has savings and he started a business here in Sandy Springs where he does a lot of work around the country for technology companies based in Georgia.

Since I haven't worked in a long time and I didn't graduate from high school or college and because our kids are all less than 10 years old I'm very worried.  I think I can get child support because he said he'd pay that but he said he won't pay me alimony.  Can I get alimony?

Answer:  From your description of the situation it appears that you may very well be entitled to alimony.  A court will examine a number of factors to determine if alimony should be paid, and these include:

• the extent to which the earning capacity of each party
• the marketable skills of the supported party
• the job market for the supported party's skills
• the possible need for retraining or education
• the ability of the supporting party to pay spousal support
• the needs of each party based on the standard of living established during the marriage
• the duration of the marriage
• the ability of the supported party to engage in gainful employment without unduly impacting the children
• the age and health of the parties

Based upon a review of the above-referenced factors (and there are more to be considered as well), it seems that you may have a compelling case for alimony.

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