Originally Posted by
Refiner 
Lexie I totally agree with what way your situation went, don't get me wrong. AND I don't know all the proper ins and outs of the OPs situation. But I've been finding more instances lately of addicts sitting on their asses preying on their well-adjusted and EMPLOYED partners than I'd like to admit actually exists!
I know more than one person who divorced an addict partner and got stuck supporting that person after the divorce for periods of several years pursuant to a court order (not a settlement agreement). It can be very frustrating.
In my case, my XH is NOT an addict. We decided when we had children that he would be the stay at home parent. My earning capacity was significantly higher than his. I did not necessarily object to a reasonable period of rehabilitative alimony. I made plenty of mistakes, though. He justified his request for 5 years of non-renewable alimony by saying he would go back to school. I did not insist on that being in the settlement agreement, and naturally, he never went back to school. In retrospect, I wish I would have been stronger emotionally and more willing to let things go to trial. I was so scared of having dirty laundry aired "publicly," and I just wanted to move on with my life, so I agreed to settle.
That said, I also fully acknowledge that the past is past. My alimony payments ended two years ago.