My question involves divorce in the State of: North Carolina
I live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Currently I rent a small townhouse and I pay as much rent as my salary will allow me. In fact at the end of my lease in April I want to move to a smaller place because the current rent is just too much for me.
Even though I had been struggling for years in this marriage, the situation between my wife and I became overwhelming and I told her I wanted to get a divorce. Because I'm alone in this country (I'm a legal permanent resident and my close family is in another country), I don't have my parents or other relatives' homes that I could move into, but my wife however, has her family here. She has her mother and grandfather living in the same area, but none of them will take her in because they have a long history of family disputes and problems.
I told her that since the law says that the year of separation has to be spent at different physical addresses, the best I can do is to let her stay with me until the end of my rent contract here but then she has to find her own place. She is somewhat disabled, however she was denied disability for years, and at best she was awarded Medicaid, which was just taken away from her. Even though she has some physical problems that don't allow her to do physically intensive work, she can still get a job at an office or some place where she can perform her duties sitting most of the time, because according to her she cannot spend too much time standing up becase of her back problems. The biggest disability she has, in my opinion, is rather psychological, because she is extremely depressive and she brings herself down all the time. For the past few years all she did was staying in bed most of the time either watching TV or sleeping, and she had a few jobs here and there, but nothing for more than a couple of months at best.
What are my choices in this situation? I was adviced in a forum to just move to another place and not give her the key. Is this possible to do? Wouldn't that be seen badly by a judge at the time of divorce?
If I can do that, what are my legal requirements towards her? Am I supposed to pay her alimony during the year of separation? As far as I've read, she would have to file a petition for alimony before the judge grants the divorce, but I couldn't find anything on what am I supposed to do during the year of separation. I told her I would pay for our cell phone bill and the car insurance, but I'm trying to make her see that she needs to wake up and start doing something with her life, that she can't rely on me forever.
Also, I would like to know more about the alimony in general. I work as a delivery driver and make very little money. There's no way I could pay for a place for her to live on top of paying my own rent. Do judges in North Carolina have a certain percentage that they award as alimony, or do they just force you to pay for a place for the supported spouse to live regardless of what you make? And, will her claim of being disabled (even though she's not legally disabled) make the judge force me to give her a larger amount in alimony?
Regarding separation of property, we don't own anything such as a land, house or apartment, and she has a car that is much better and newer than mine. The only things I'm worried about are some electronics that I bought over the years, which I paid for with credit cards and I'm still paying for them month to month. If she wants to take some of that away from me, what choices do I have other than hiring an attorney? (which I couldn't do because I have no money to pay for it)
I will appreciate any expert advice you can give me.

