Careers are financial assets and have value. They can be very important in a traditional marriage where the wife has stayed home to raise the children, worked part-time, or helped the spouse to obtain an education or license.
The spouse, or wife in this instance, is often times called a “displaced homemaker” or the “economically disadvantaged” spouse. I strongly dislike both of these “labels,” however when it comes to divorce they do describe the difficult position that the woman can find herself. After raising the young children and staying out of the work force for the good of the family, suddenly she is forced into the workplace with less education, skills, and work history to compete for a job - a job she really may not want to do.
There are courses at community colleges and career experts who counsel women in this situation. If you are in this category, seek help as soon as possible to determine your rights and a course of action. Long term alimony is almost impossible to receive out of a marriage that has lasted 10-25 years in most states, so identifying other potential sources of post-divorce income is important.
Career assets can include education or training. For example, you worked as a nurse to put your husband through medical school, and then dropped out of the work force for the next 20 years raising your family - a decision you both made at the time. He is now involved with a nurse from the hospital, and you have been displaced, emotionally and financially. Now you are being pressured with “When are you going to get a job and go to work? Why can’t you return to the nursing profession and earn $50,000/year right now?”
Career assets can also include a degree, job experience, seniority, life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, unemployment benefits, Social Security benefits, paid sick leave, vacation time, present value of the defined benefit pension plans, retirement plans, and a net work of professional contacts and goodwill in a business.
Make sure you get the career assets of your marriage valued. You may also need to establish a career plan for yourself. For more information and an in-depth case study with a sample career evaluation/report, refer to Appendix A of my book, Fair Share Divorce For Women, Second Edition.