Boston Divorce Lawyer Blog

[Paying Alimony Forever?]

Boston Magazine has a great article on alimony this month. [link here]

Alimony in Massachusetts is a mess.  That’s a simple statement with not so simple consequences.  Alimony in Massachusetts is a mess because there is no why and no how to it.  There is no rhyme or reason.  If no one ever articulated a reason for alimony or a “how” to calculate it, then the legal system is little more than a game of Judges picking favorites.

I’ve had opportunities to represent both husbands and wives in alimony cases.  Whether alimony gets awarded and how much depends mainly on the length of marriage, the earnings of both parties and the judge.  There are judges I’ve appeared in front of that I do not agree with and I believe has a wrong outlook on what alimony is suppose to accomplish.  Then there are judges that are extremely wise and contrary to the Boston Magazine article, do see the role of alimony as finite and they do impute income to the recipient spouse (usually the wife).  But despite the wisdom of these judges, they are restricted by statute and various case law on what they can do – and that is a shame.

There is a movement going on in Massachusetts right now to reform alimony and I believe in it.  Recently, child support was reformed in Massachusetts to take it more in-line with other states.  Child support now counts the contribution of both parents in supporting the minor children, not simply the payor as was the case in the past.  There is now a fair and fixed formula for child support.  Have all child support lawyers gone out of business because of it? No.  There will always be those cases where there are conflicts and that’s where lawyers come into play.  Alimony should be no different.  There should be a finite limit and there should be a formula to calculate it.

[Massachusetts Alimony Reform]

Here are the top 10 reasons why you don’t need a divorce lawyer for an uncontested divorce:

1. You know exactly what the “merger” and “survival” clause of the Separation Agreement means.
2. You’ve divorced so many times that you know all the pitfalls and traps of a divorce (and your name is also Elizabeth Taylor)
3. You know exactly what parts of your Separation Agreement is modifiable, when it’s modifiable and how to modify it
4. You’d rather wait and spend thousands of dollars down the road to modify or file contempt actions then for a lawyer to tell you the pitfalls today
5. You expect the court’s clerks to give you legal advice
6. You expect the judge to give you legal advice
7. You know exactly how to write out the terms of child custody, child support, alimony, health insurance, property division, tax returns provisions, etc.
8. Your spouse’s divorce lawyer told you to sign on the dotted line with no explanation and you’re comfortable with that
9. You are a family court judge
10. You are a divorce lawyer

This is an excerpt from The Consumerist today:

When multi-millionaire fund manager Brian Myerson negotiated his divorce, he gave cash and assets to his wife and just took shares in his company as his portion of the joint assets. Cute, right? Well, this is one risk that didn’t pay off for the edgy activist investor: his company’s shares subsequently plummeted 90%, leaving the ex-wife walking off with what basically amounts to 105% of the divorce assets.

Myerson appealed his case in court — and lost.

Here in Massachusetts, it’s no different.  If you get a divorce in Massachusetts and during the course of negotiations you reach a settlement agreement on division of property, you cannot (except under very unusual circumstances) change the agreement after the divorce has been approved.  There is a thing called a Complaint for Modification to modify parts of a divorce settlement, however, it is not for modifying property distribution.  Modification actions are for modifying child support, custody/visitation and alimony.

So before you sign on the dotted line on that Separation Agreement, think long and hard because you cannot take back what you have given away.