JUST PLAY BRIDGE
By: Michael H. Gora
Q I was married to my first husband for forty-five years. He had worked for the General Motors in Detroit his whole life. He was retired and had earned a pension, which continued to pay me after his death. The catch was that the pension would stop if I remarried.
As the saying goes, “there is no fool like and old fool.” A friend of mine in Miami Beach fixed me up with a very nice man. We dated. We became “very friendly.” About a year, after we met we got married. It seemed like as soon as we got married he changed. He was no longer so sociable, friendly to me or loving.
Now he does nothing but go to the Indian Casino to play poker, or sit around and drink beer and watch the big screen TV his son and daughter bought him for his 80th birthday. We don’t even sleep in the same room. I cook and clean for him. I’d have been better off if I rented a room from him, or moved in as a paid housekeeper. After six months of marriage, I’m thinking divorce. Yesterday he mentioned divorce.
From what I have read in your paper, I know that we haven’t been married long enough to get alimony. Is there anyway for me to get my Pension back, so I would have money to live on in addition to my social security.
A Maybe. Call the office of the administrator of the General Motors pension and ask whether an annulment of the marriage would restore your pension payments. Marriages can be annulled based on fraud. One form of fraud upon which an annulment of marriage can be based, is the refusal of one of the marriage partners to consummate the marriage (have sex with the other marriage partner) after the marriage.
The refusal to consummate can be emotional or physical. In order to prove this ground for annulment you would probably need the cooperation of your husband. You would both testify as to the circumstances supporting your position.
Your attorney, in his or her opening statement, can explain to the judge why the annulment is important to you economically, and why you’re requesting an annulment, rather than a divorce.
Whether the judge actually believed your testimony or not, an annulment would probably be granted, with a wink and a nod, as an easy and practical way to solve your financial problem. If that works out you might consider just saying, “Let’s just play bridge.” the next time your friends try to fix you up.
Michael H. Gora has been certified by the Board of Legal Specialization of the Florida Bar as a specialist in family and matrimonial law and is a partner with Shapiro Blasi Wasserman & Gora P.A. in Boca Raton.
