High school civics teachers are correct when they say that state laws affect your daily life more than federal laws do. This is especially noticeable when you interact with the family courts. For example, each state has its own procedures for divorce filings, even though they are more alike than different. Most states offer some form of “quickie divorce,” but these go by different names, such as simplified divorce and summary dissolution, and the eligibility requirements vary from one state to another. States also have their own child support guidelines, but some states have a rule that, if the couple’s income is above a certain limit, the judge can decide alimony on a case-by-case basis; call it the “so rich that the laws of mathematics do not apply to you” rule.
Some states even have statewide guidelines for building grandparent visitation time into parenting plans. These things do not get people angry enough to vote, though. If you really want to push people’s buttons, say the word “alimony,” and you will get an endless diatribe about how the world is in cahoots against the speaker. Some states have recently changed their alimony laws, and people are just as angry about the new laws as they were about the old ones. Against this backdrop, it is the task of family law attorneys to follow the new laws and help their clients achieve realistic goals about alimony.
What’s Going on With Alimony Laws?
In the old days, divorces were rare, but when they happened, the court almost always ordered the former husband to pay alimony to the former wife; even though many women worked in family businesses or otherwise contributed financially to the household, society did not expect or enable married women to be financially independent of their husbands. Today, divorce is more common, and more women are in the workforce. Most family courts award alimony for a short duration or not at all.
Alimony tends to be a situation that pleases no one. Divorced people who pay alimony are angry that they must continue to support the ex-spouse who walked out of a perfectly good marriage, while alimony recipients feel that the alimony they get is not enough to make ends meet, even when they work as much as their health allows. Recent changes to alimony laws have tended to make it easier to reduce or terminate alimony obligations, and Florida has abolished permanent alimony, even for couples who have been married their whole adult lives.
Your Law Firm’s Website is the Ideal Place for Clients to Find Out the Truth About Current Alimony Laws
Most people misunderstand alimony laws, and your law firm’s website is the ideal place to clear up misconceptions. These are some matters you can address on your “alimony lawyer” practice page:
- How many types of alimony your state’s laws recognize, and the differences between them
- You can modify your alimony obligations if you suffer a financial hardship
- Most alimony recipients must return to the workforce unless they are of retirement age or have a disability
- The court can impute income both to paying spouses and to recipient spouses
- The situations that warrant early termination of alimony
- Alternatives to alimony, such as QDRO and letting your ex-spouse keep the marital home
- Alimony and child support are separate financial obligations
The Best Way to Avoid Stressful Situations Related to Alimony is to Avoid Going to Trial
When a court issues an alimony order, it is not usually the judge who decides the duration and amount of alimony or even that alimony is appropriate at all. Most people who pay alimony do so after agreeing to it in court-ordered divorce mediation. It is obvious from the first consultation with a divorce lawyer whether or not alimony will be part of the puzzle. If both spouses have worked full-time throughout the marriage, the court will not order alimony unless they were married for decades and one spouse’s income is a fraction of the other’s. Likewise, if one spouse was out of the workforce throughout the marriage, the court will likely order alimony at least for a while, even if the couple was only married for a few years.
You are in a position to help your clients understand why alimony is probably inevitable in their case and why it is not forever, and it is not a free ride. This way, you can help them reach an agreement with their ex about a fair alimony amount, and everyone will be better off financially if the case does not go to trial.
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