Last week I spent a full day in trial for parties that had been married over 30 years but separated over 25 years 😱. My client had acquired everything while the other party literally had NOTHING. The question that the judge had is “Why didn’t my client get a divorce 25 years ago.” I let the judge know, that like many people that don’t practice law every day, my client knew he would have to split something, but definitely didn’t think it would be everything acquired after the separation (which was when he acquired majority of the community estate). The conclusion was that at the end of the trial, rather than a nearly 50/50 split, the judge awarded the other party roughly 23/77 in favor of my client. Which is still more than what he believed she deserved based on the facts, BUT it was consistent with the law. We only even got to the 23% because the judge found her to be at fault in the divorce. I hated it for my client, who had literally worked so hard for so much and done everything right (other than file for divorce decades ago), but the reality is...if you don’t get the divorce, the pot just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Moral of the story- when it’s over it’s over. Get the divorce, and don’t fatten a fog for a snake. If you’ve got a legal dilemma, click the link in my bio to schedule your consultation today.