What Is It? What Factors Will Be Considered When Assessing the Need for Alimony?
The end of a marriage can lead to concerns about your financial future, particularly if you were a stay-at-home spouse or your husband/wife earned significantly more than you did. Though alimony is not as common as it used to be, it can still be awarded in a New Jersey divorce proceeding.
What Is Alimony?
Alimony, spousal maintenance and spousal support are interchangeable terms that refer to a periodic payment made by one spouse to another, either on a temporary basis while a divorce is pending or for some period of time after a divorce is finalized. The intention of alimony is to minimize the likelihood that a divorce will have a far greater financial impact on one of the parties to the benefit of the other party. The goal in most cases where spousal support is awarded is to try to provide both parties with a lifestyle close to that enjoyed during the marriage.
What Are the Different Types of Alimony in New Jersey?
Most often, an alimony award is temporary. It may be for a specific period of time or it may be in place until a spouse gets the education or job training to be self-sufficient. If you’ve been married more than 20 years, you may actually be able to get open duration alimony, where the support order has an indefinite length.
What Are the Factors That Go into an Alimony Determination
When evaluating whether alimony is appropriate, a court in New Jersey may consider a wide range of factors:
- Need
- Ability to pay
- Standard of living during the marriage
- The length of the marriage
- The age and health of the parties
- The potential earning capacity and employability of both parties
- Whether either party has income-producing assets
- Whether either party has parenting responsibility for minor children
- Any other factor the court considers relevant
Modifying an Alimony Award
An alimony award is always open to modification when there has been a substantial change in either party’s circumstances, unless the parties agreed that no modifications would be allowed. Causes for modification can include substantial change in financial circumstances of a party, retirement from work, or cohabitation of the party receiving alimony. Remarriage of the party receiving alimony, and death of either party are also cause for termination of alimony by law.
Contact the Law Office of David M. Lipshutz
We will only take your case if we know we can help. For an appointment, contact our office online or call us at 856-627-1990. We are available to meet with you Monday through Friday, between 9 am and 5 pm.
