There is no statutory rule in Ohio as it relates to the specific length of a marriage and its effect on the amount of spousal support you can receive. In 25 years of doing this, I would say generally that parties should not even consider spousal support until they’ve finished three years of marriage, based on what I’ve seen judges do it in Ohio.
A rule of thumb is that starting at the end of the third year, about one year of spousal support for every three years of marriage.
There are some factors that go against this general rule of thumb. Let’s say you have been married for two years. And, at the end of two years, your spouse comes down with a progressive disease that is going to prevent him or her from working. The court is possibly going to make you pay spousal support beyond the rules of what I just said (one year for every three years of marriage). You could end up paying spousal support for a very, very long time.
I think that for a catastrophic injury, it would be the same as with the illness analogy. Remember that one of the factors in spousal support is the health of the parties. So, assuming you have two healthy people and assuming you have one person who is making a lot more money than the other person, in those situations there may be special circumstances for spousal support and you’d want to consult with an experienced divorce attorney in Ohio about the details of your situation.