Comment by Eric Julian Mayer
As professional school tuitions escalate and the number of divorces per capita climbs, a troublesome issue increasingly presents itself to courts throughout the United States. This problem, the “career-threshold, no-asset divorce,” arises when two parties marry and one spouse works to send the other to professional school. During the marital relationship the couple expends all or most of its resources for degree acquisition, and as a result few marital assets are accumulated. Shortly after the degree is acquired the marriage terminates. At divorce, the couple has little or no property to divide and alimony usually is precluded by statute because the nondegreed spouse already has demonstrated his or her ability to support himself or herself. Often, the degreed spouse has not begun to practice in his or her new profession at the time of the dissolution of the marriage; however, he or she is now equipped to embark on a new career. The nondegreed spouse often feels exploited. His or her efforts and sacrifices are soon forgotten as the degreed spouse's increased earning potential no longer inures to the benefit of the couple. The equities presented by this fact pattern are examined in this comment. Judicial responses in both community and noncommunity property jurisdictions are scrutinized and suggested responses are set forth for each jurisdiction. An examination of these judicial responses and suggested remedies may better help to aid in understanding and remedying this unique dilemma.
About the Author
Eric Julian Mayer.
Citation
58 Tul. L. Rev. 791 (1984)