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Are you considering divorce? Divorce has become all too common place in today’s society. In fact, almost 50% percent of all marriages end in divorce. If the parties have been married for a significant time, the court generally will make the higher earning spouse pay alimony.
This is known as alimony or spousal support. Whether or not the court will grant spousal support depends on a variety of factors. Some of these factors include the length of the marriage, the age and health of the parties, the party’s financial contribution to the marriage, as well as the standard of living established during the marriage.
Traditionally, courts granted alimony to the wife rather than the husband because the husband was typically the bread-winner of the family. However, this is no longer the case today, as the times have changed. In today’s society, it is no secret that women are regarded as being on equal-footing with men. In addition, over the years, courts have strayed away from gender and role stereotypes.
There are four general types of alimony known as: a lump sum award, permanent periodic support, reimbursement, and rehabilitative support. A lump sum award as well as permanent periodic support are generally awarded when the parties to the marriage were married for a longer period of time: typically, ten years or longer.
Rehabilitative and reimbursement support are generally awarded where the economically-dependent spouse helped the other spouse financially with schooling, or training in order to get a better job. However, what happens when the court grants one spouse a lump sum award and the other spouse cannot financially afford to pay the lump sum ordered by the court? This was the case in recently decided in Johnson v. Johnson from Lee County, Alabama.
The husband and wife married in 2003. In 2014, the husband filed for divorce. The trial court entered a divorce and ordered the husband to pay a $20,000 lump sum award. However, at the time, the husband was only receiving retirement benefits in the amount of $1,108 and monthly social security benefits in the amount of $1,408.
The appellate court held that the husband did not have enough income to allow him to pay a lump sum award of $20,000 to his ex-wife. The husband is lucky that he had a good divorce attorney to appeal this outrageous decision.
If you are considering divorce,contact divorce attorney, Ingram Law LLC at (205) 303-1753.