Does The Court Order Alimony If Both Spouses Are Broke?

The Alabama courts may award alimony when this is necessary to enable both spouses to continue to live at the same standard as they lived during the marriage.  Often, it takes the form of rehabilitative alimony, which lasts five years or less, and the purpose of which is to enable the recipient spouse to undergo training and certification for an occupation that would enable him or her to become financially independent of his or her ex-spouse.  Of course, most middle-class lifestyles are smoke and mirrors; households with six-figure incomes still live paycheck to paycheck.  Even couples who were genuinely financially secure in the 1990s have seen their financial cushion disintegrate.  You cannot hide from your debts when you get divorced, even if you spent your marriage ignoring them.  This might mean that there is less marital property than you thought there was.  If you are in even worse financial shape now than you were during your marriage, but your ex-spouse is still requesting alimony, contact a Birmingham divorce lawyer.

Alimony Is Based on the Money You Have, Not on the Money You Wish You Had 

Joyce and Daryl’s marriage fell apart simply because life happened to them.  In the best of times, Daryl had $100,000 in retirement savings from his job at a bank, and Joyce worked part-time while caring for the couple’s three children.  Eventually, job losses and health problems caused Daryl to withdraw money from his retirement accounts to keep the family going.  By 2017, when the parties separated, the electricity in the marital home had been shut off because of unpaid bills, and the couple had to sell the house to avoid foreclosure, and Daryl’s diabetes complications forced him into an early retirement.  Both parties were in their early 50s when this happened.

Joyce moved to Alabama with her adult children but worked full-time as a teacher in Georgia; therefore, she also rented an apartment in Georgia.  Four years later, the parties were still in court arguing over whether Joyce was entitled to alimony.  Joyce claimed that, since her income had consistently been lower than Daryl’s, she was entitled to rehabilitative alimony.  Daryl claimed that he could not pay, since his only income was disability income, and he owed tens of thousands of dollars to the IRS from withdrawing money from his retirement accounts early.  The court ruled that Joyce did not need alimony, and Daryl did not have the means to pay.  As evidence, it cited the fact that, with her current income, Joyce was able to rent an apartment in Georgia and also contribute to the expenses of the family home in Alabama, as well as contributing to her daughter’s college tuition payments.

Contact Peeples Law About Divorce After Your Financial Situation Goes From Bad to Worse 

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you if your ex-spouse wants alimony but you do not have the income to pay or the health to work.  Contact Peeples Law today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2751428260764853375&q=divorce+heat&hl=en&as_sdt=4,61,62,64&as_ylo=2014&as_yhi=2024