Trepidation, fear, and uncertainty.  When navigating the uncharted waters of divorce, these words succinctly capture the emotions you may be feeling if you have been financially dependent on your spouse during the marriage.  And those very same words and emotions are likely experienced by you if you have financially supported your spouse throughout your marriage.  In divorce, particularly when discussing alimony, the two spouses often have competing and valid interests that are largely dependent on their individual perspectives.  For instance, the issue of alimony can often juxtapose one spouse’s justifiable sense of entitlement even after the divorce with the other spouse’s desire to obtain absolute finality from their dependent spouse.

Alimony is a monetary award that one former spouse pays to the other (usually monthly) as continued financial support or contribution toward the other’s needs and expenses that are incurred in order to maintain the same or similar standard of living that the parties had grown accustomed to prior to their separation.  Although typically awarded in long-term marriages, the law pertaining to alimony has recently and substantially changed.  

In order to help navigate you through this process, some topics of discussion that you need to have with the lawyer in the initial consultation, or soon after the client-lawyer relationship has been formed, may be:

• Is alimony an issue that will be addressed in my divorce?
• How is alimony determined?
• How long will I likely receive or have to pay alimony?
• Does the payment of alimony have any taxable consequences?
• Is there any way I can avoid having to pay alimony?
• How do I prepare a winning argument in order to maximize the amount or length of time that I may receive alimony?
• How do I minimize the amount or length of time I may have to pay alimony?
• What are the consequences if alimony isn’t paid?
• Is the amount of alimony that was ordered to be paid modifiable?
• What do I need to prove in order to modify the alimony obligation?
• Once alimony is ordered, can it ever be terminated?

At Boyd, Fernambucq & Dunn, P.C., our experienced litigators are prepared to answer each of these important questions for you.  Recognizing that your case may require the payment of alimony, we strive to negotiate and structure settlement agreements that will address the amount and length of the alimony obligation, depending on the particular facts and circumstances of your case.  However, when the need arises, we stand ready to litigate in order to obtain these results for you.  

Rest assured, there will be peaks and valleys along the way.  But there are sunrises and sunsets in your future… this we know. If you would like to schedule a consultation with any of our lawyers to discuss any divorce matter, post-divorce modification or enforcement issues, family law matter, or the possibility of an appeal from any final judgment, please do so by locating this information under the particular lawyer’s attorney profile.