Divorce Support Forums: Does this sound like a reasonable settlement?

My wife and I are divorcing after 25 years of marriage. The guidelines for spousal support and alimony are vague to say the least, so I am looking for an educated opinion regarding if our plan is likely to be reasonable in the eyes of the law, or in accord with what the court would decide if they were to dicide for us.

I own a business that I started after we were married. For many years she stayed at home with no income and "enabled" me to run the business by taking care of pretty much all domestic things. About 10 years ago she went back to school for about 4 years and then became a dental hygenist. During her education I supported her financially and took on other "enabling" activities and after she was working, we both just worked and enabled each other. (It was wonderful!) So now, the kids are grown and we plan to basically split our income for the next 12 years. We own 2 houses and a pension. If I were to give her everything it would still be short of the dollar amount of 12 years of support that I would pay. I am going to give her the pension because Since I am self employed I can put a high % of my income into a new pension where as she cannot as an employee. Also my SS will be greater due to having paid in more. In a divorce people often trade things like pensions or houses for support I guess, and at any rate I want her to have a good retirement. What I really want to know is considering the above info, is it reasonable to figure splitting combined income (the amount over and above our needs) for the next 12 years (subtracting out her 1/2 of the pension) likely to be a reasonable obligation to me from the courts perspective? Maybe to make it simple, If everything else is equal is splitting income for 12 years in a 25 year marriage normal? Personally I feel at her age (54) she should not be required to work more than the 3 days a week that she does now. The dental work is hard on the body and also would not in my opinion be keeping with the "maintaining past standard of living" In the end though I really just want to do what the law sees as just.

Thanks

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