Masschusetts New Divorce Law + Lover as Intoxicating Drug

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(1) Gerald Nissenbaum, Alimony Laws Change, But Hubby Has to Pay. Boston Herald, Jan 8, 2012.
http://bostonherald.com/entertai ... g?articleid=1394123

Note: Here is a page (titled "Massachusetts Law About Divorce") from the website of
Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/subject/about/divorce.html
("Massachusetts Laws
•MGL c.208 Divorce
•St.2011, c.124 An Act Reforming Alimony in the Commonwealth Effective March 1, 2012 New!)
, where St and c mean Statute and chapter, respectively.

Section 3 of chapter 124--the section law of c 124 will be c 208 of statutory law--is about definitions.  

"'Length of the marriage', the number of months from the date of legal marriage to the date of service of a complaint or petition for divorce or separate support duly filed in a court of the commonwealth or another court with jurisdiction to terminate the marriage; provided, however, that the court may increase the length of the marriage if there is evidence that the parties' economic marital partnership began during their cohabitation period prior to the marriage."

What matters in this context is the addition of this wording: "the court may increase the length of the marriage if there is evidence that the parties' economic marital partnership began during their cohabitation period prior to the marriage."

(b) Carolyn Hax, When the Other Woman . . . Is You. Washington Post, Jan 8, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/li ... QAk7DbhP_story.html