There is a difference between a participant as mistress versus being involved in a love affair. In the literary sense, at any rate, a mistress is supported in some substantive way, with either a residence or some form of income. If you're acting as a mistress, dealing with the inconvenience of having that relationship around a married man's home life but without that support, then you're not a mistress, you're a bit on the side, even if it is a long-term basis.

When newsman Charles Kuralt died, it became public that he had a mistress, who owned property that was, unfortunately, surrounded by land claimed by his wife. There were difficulties. It looks like the mistress finally received the acreage, but for a time it was quite messy.

In other trials, there was a story a year or two ago about a woman who had been promised a payment by the man who offered her partial support over the years of their relationship. Because of the state in which this occurred, when the mistress approached the wife for the cash, the wife sued for alienation of affection and ended up garnishing the retirement checks of the mistress to get all of the money back that had been paid to her over the years.

It's a tough situation to be in.

SRS