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Why Wait So Long?

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It was reported on People.com that actor Ed Asner has filed for divorce from his wife Cindy although they have been separated for 8 years. The media, presumably People’s readership, and anyone else who is curious, was wondering why he would file for divorce after they have been separated for so long and, conversely, why didn’t one of them file when they first separated?  Without getting into any psychological reasons why people don’t file for divorce, despite being separated, let me share some thoughts from my 25 years experience as a family law attorney.

So, if husband and wife have been separated for 8 years, why would one of the parties decide, after all that time, to finally file for divorce? The simple answer is that, in this case, maybe Asner wants to get divorced.  People tend to forget that, for parties to get a divorce, someone has to start a divorce action. There is no magic period of separation after which the parties are suddenly divorced.  The civil dissolution of a marriage requires the filing of paperwork with court. Under Pennsylvania law, it does not matter how long the parties have been separated, they are still considered legally married until either a divorce decree is entered by a judge or until one of the parties dies.  If the parties married on January 1, 2001, and separated on January 2, 2001, it does not matter they they have been separated for more than 14 years. They are still married under Pennsylvania law.  They cannot marry any other people. Maybe Asner wants to get married for the third time.

When parties who are married, but living separately file their federal tax returns, assuming they do not file a joint return, they can only file with the filing status of “Married Filing Separate” or “Head of Household”, if that would apply to them. They cannot files as “Single” because they are not. Maybe Asner was tired of paying taxes at the higher “Married Filing Separate” tax rate?

What about “legal separation”? Some jurisdictions require a party to file for “legal separation” in order to assert economic claims  incident to the dissolution of their marriage, like spousal support. Pennsylvania does not recognize “legal separation”.  This also means that, assuming Pennsylvania law would apply to his situation, Asner would have to maintain health insurance coverage for his wife Cindy because they are still married, i.e. not divorced. Sometimes, a party would want to make sure that the other side has health insurance coverage to ensure ongoing medical treatment so the parties put off the filing and finalizing of the divorce. N.B. This may be less of an issue now that health care is available to more Americans under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Maybe Asner wanted to keep his wife on his health insurance coverage?

Under Pennsylvania law, an income superior spouse could have an obligation to pay spousal support to the other party until a divorce decree is entered. The filing of a complaint for spousal support does not require the filing of a divorce complaint. A person, like Asner, could pay spousal support for years with no end in sight if no divorce action was ever started.  So, perhaps Asner filed for divorce because he was finally tired of paying spousal support.

Under Pennsylvania law, the marital estate, which would be subject to equitable distribution, would consist of the assets and debts acquired by either party from their date of marriage to their date of separation, regardless of title. So, applying Pennsylvania law to the Asner’s case, any assets that either acquired during their 8 year separation would not be subject to equitable distribution. The Court can consider, however, they extent and value of each parties’ non-marital assets and debts when determining how the marital estate is to be divided.

Only Asner and possibly his attorney know the reason why he waited to file for divorce.  Maybe Cindy started to show spunk and we all know Lou Grant hates spunk.


Filed under: Celebrity cases, Celebrity divorces, divorce, During representation, equitable distribution, Marriage Tagged: Affordable Care Act, date of separation, divorce, Ed Asner, head of household, legal separation, marital estate, marital property, married filing separate, no fault divorce, Obamacare, separate and apart, tax status

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