Helping real people move through divorce
This is about alimony after divorce in Louisiana, including when courts order alimony, how the amount of alimony is set in Louisiana, and how and when Louisiana courts stop alimony once it’s awarded. This information is from Adam Lambert, the DivorceInfo Network Lawyer for Louisiana. Click here to visit his web site. When does alimony … Continue reading “Louisiana Divorce FAQs – Alimony”
Alimony – spousal support – is a flexible financial tool for divorcing couples. It offers tax advantages that can help put more cash in the pockets of both spouses. What is it? Can I get it? / Will I have to pay it? Why would I want to pay alimony? Software to think it through … Continue reading “Alimony”
Courts in Alabama can change alimony after the decree if there’s a material change in circumstances, and a court can extend an award of rehabilitative or temporary alimony beyond its original term. What happens, though, if the recipient doesn’t ask for the extension until after the original term has ended? The Alabama Court of Civil … Continue reading “Extending Rehabilitative Alimony AFTER It’s Ended”
There is an accepted truism, a myth, if you will, that Alabama courts don’t award alimony after a marriage of less than 10 years. From time to time, courts do award alimony after short-term marriages, usually in special circumstances, for example after one of the spouses has given the other a sexually-transmitted disease, or after … Continue reading “Significant Alimony After a Six-Year Marriage in Alabama”
Often the divorce court will order one spouse to pay the house payment of the other spouse, and in many cases the order will specify that the duty stops when the recipient spouse remarries or when the children reach the age of majority. In that case, courts usually have no trouble construing that obligation as … Continue reading “Construing a House Payment as Alimony”
Alabama statutes make it clear that alimony after divorce stops on the remarriage or cohabitation of the recipient with a member of the opposite sex. Ala. Code §30-2-55. So what happens if the cohabitation is between the recipient and her lesbian partner? The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals considered this issue in J.L.M. v. S.A.K., … Continue reading “Alabama Alimony and Lesbian Cohabitation”
The Ontario Court of Appeals has ordered a Canadian psychiatrist to pay alimony to his ex-wife, even though the Manitoba courts ordered no alimony 13 years ago. The psychiatrist is now appealing that ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada. If the ruling stands, it will change forever the landscape of divorce negotiations in Canada, … Continue reading “Canada’s High Court May Hear Alimony Case”
A woman in New Jersey is seeking alimony not from her husband (he’s too poor) but from his parents. Here’s a story about it from the New York Post.
The Oregon legislature is considering ending all alimony after the recipient remarries and giving men more time to challenge their paternity of children they are supporting. Here’s a story about it from The Associated Press on Oregon Live.
Florida is considering changing its statute on alimony to stop payments if the recipient is cohabitating with a person of the opposite sex. The bill passed in a House committee yesterday and goes now to the full House. Here’s an article about it in the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
The New Jersey Supreme Court says marital infidelity shouldn’t be a factor in awarding alimony in most divorce cases. The court said that judges should pay primary attention to economic factors, that they should only rarely consider who is at fault.
The Bankruptcy Bill making its way through Congress now will require that people who file bankruptcy pay back alimony and child support as a first priority, even before they pay the lawyer who files their bankruptcy. Viewed in isolation, this sounds like a good thing. Alimony and child support go from being the number seven … Continue reading “Bankruptcy Bill Gives Priority to Alimony & Child Support”
The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a prenuptial agreement cannot limit the alimony between divorcing spouses, because to do would violate public policy. Here’s a story on the ruling from the Argus Leader. And here’s another from the Rapid City Journal. I haven’t been able to find the decision yet on the legal … Continue reading “South Dakota: Prenup Can’t Limit Alimony”
We Americans paid 18 percent more more child support and alimony in 2002 than we did in 1997, even after adjustment for inflation. Here’s a report on it from United Press International as it appeared in the World Peace Herald. The story indicates the changes that occurred over the five year period: Total payments increased … Continue reading “Alimony & Child Support Payments Up”
The High Court of Allahabad has awarded alimony to a Muslim wife. Doesn’t sound like news to you? Didn’t to me, either, but this is apparently groundbreaking. Here’s the article from Rediff India. If you’re wondering as I was about what the signficance of the High Court of Allahabad, you can check out the history … Continue reading “Muslim Alimony”
The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals says ending alimony after divorce takes more than showing that the wife/recipient lives in a house owned by a member of the opposite sex. In McNatt v. McNatt, No. 2030638 (Ala. Civ. App. January 14, 2005), the court reversed the finding of a trial court that the wife had … Continue reading “Living in Man’s House Doesn’t End Alimony”
The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals ruled in December that it’s not appropriate to reduce income by alimony when figuring child support. The father had argued in the case of Spears v. Spears (Ala. Civ. App. 2004) that his income for child support purposes should be reduced by the alimony he was required to pay … Continue reading “Child support – no offset for alimony”
That old farm had been in the husband’s family since before the marriage. Was the wife entitled to share in its value in divorce? The Alabama appeals court says yes, even though neither spouse ever lived there. The case is Davis v Davis, Case No. 2150657 (Ala. Civ. App. May 5, 2017). That link, by … Continue reading “Is the Farm a Marital Asset?”
It was just a few days ago that I posted about the status of pets in divorce. I said that family law has a rigid view of pets as property and that people in divorce just need to get accustomed to that. Now comes word that Alaska is making a liar of me. As of … Continue reading “Alaska Orders Divorce Judges To Consider Pets’ Welfare”
Lee’s note – 5/5/17: This note was originally based on a version of the court’s opinion that has since been withdrawn. On April 7, 2017, after rehearing, the appeals court withdrew that opinion and substituted a now one in its place. I have left the note in place, but I have added at the end … Continue reading “Due Process and Proving Income in Divorce”