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National Push for Almony Reform Is Growing

By Tresa Baldas
March 28, 2008

Legislation and lawsuits challenging the traditional notions of alimony ' such as how long it should be paid and by whom ' are popping up across the nation. At issue is whether judges have too much discretion in deciding how much alimony should be paid, for how long, and whether they unfairly favor ex-wives.

In New York, family law attorneys are lobbying legislators to reform the state's alimony laws, which many say also provide no guidelines for judges to follow when deciding alimony, leading to ambiguous awards.

There are rumblings in other states, as well. In Massachusetts, a bill is pending before the legislature that would put limits on how long alimony has to be paid, and carve out a provision that would prevent a second wife's income from being used to pay alimony to the first wife. Also, the Massachusetts and Boston bar associations recently created a Joint Alimony Task Force, which plans to recommend new standards for reasonableness of amount and duration of alimony.

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