Is alimony automatic?

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Alimony is one of the most contested issues in a divorce case. The short answer is no. Alimony is not a quote unquote, given. It’s not something that a spouse is automatically entitled to, for example, like child support. Rather, the spouse seeking the alimony has basically had have to show that the spouse is in need of the alimony. So the court will go through several factors. I think there’s basically three or four factors that are of the utmost importance. One is that spouse’s need for the money, need for the alimony. That’s the payee, the payer spouse, ability to pay the alimony, the needs of that party, the. The length of the party’s marriage, the earning capabilities of each of the spouses. So those are typically the most important factors that a court will look at.

And oftentimes, you know, we will have cases where, you know, one person is taking the position that they should be entitled to eight years of alimony or 10 years of alimony, and the other person is like, I’m not paying you alimony. And every judge is different. You know, some judges have built a reputation for being more flexible on alimony. Other judges have built the reputation for not believing in alimony. And there’s different ways, you know, as they say, to skin the cat. I mean, if we’re in front of a judge that we believe is not very sort of amenable to granting alimony, then, you know, we may take the strategic perspective of asking for more of the marital assets as opposed to 50%.

We may go in there and ask for 60%, 65%, that we can try to get more assets that ultimately can be used for the support of that spouse.

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