Practice Tip: Predictability and Consistency in Alimony Awards Within States

These continued practices are remnants of early alimony laws, which were designed to ensure that women, whose roles were traditionally relegated to the home, were supported following a divorce. Now, women are an integral part of the workforce. Yet women still comprise the overwhelming majority of alimony recipients. An opposite, but equally significant trend is that many women are now the payors of alimony.

Consequently, New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg views a reexamination of alimony laws as “a women's issue.” “Feminism has required us to look in the opposite direction ' toward laws which would end the marginalization of paying and payor women alike,” Weinberg has said.

Weinberg is the proponent of a bill, currently pending before the New Jersey State Senate, which would establish a commission to study alimony laws to determine what reform, if any, is necessary. Weinberg believes that if there is a commission to study alimony laws, the focus should be on fairness to both parties, with an eye toward “true gender neutrality.”

New Jersey follows the trend among several other states to reexamine alimony laws. Recently, the Massachusetts Legislature unanimously approved a law that sets specific time limits on alimony for marriages of 20 years or less. It also terminates alimony when the payor reaches full retirement age.

Critics of the law complain that its language is unclear and confusing, leading some judges to misinterpret the law, and others simply to ignore it. The inconsistencies in the application of alimony awards have thus nary been ameliorated, and perhaps have even been exacerbated.

As a result, input from attorneys and judges is needed to guide any state legislative body considering reform to address existing issues that may lead to divergent alimony awards from courtroom to courtroom. That is the very reason that Weinberg's proposed commission, to be comprised of members ranging from the Attorney General to local family law attorneys, will “consider the experiences of members of the Bar as well as those directly affected” by existing alimony laws.

Eliana Baer is an associate at Fox Rothschild LLP. She can be reached at [email protected] or 609.896.1469.

Much like laws concerning marriage and divorce, alimony (sometimes referred to as maintenance or spousal support) laws vary among states. However, lack of predictability and consistency in alimony awards within states have put alimony reform in the forefront of political, judicial and social arenas in several states, including New Jersey, Florida and Massachusetts.

Although it is important to recognize the need for reform, it is also important to examine the reasons that alimony laws are increasingly being revisited.

Too often, the instinct of many judges and lawyers may be to default automatically to an award of permanent (or lifetime) alimony based solely on the length of the marriage, without examining the surrounding circumstances of that marriage. For example, did the parties agree that the non-working spouse would return to work after the children entered high school? If the parties had stayed married, would one spouse have wound-down his or her career at a certain age?

These continued practices are remnants of early alimony laws, which were designed to ensure that women, whose roles were traditionally relegated to the home, were supported following a divorce. Now, women are an integral part of the workforce. Yet women still comprise the overwhelming majority of alimony recipients. An opposite, but equally significant trend is that many women are now the payors of alimony.

Consequently, New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg views a reexamination of alimony laws as “a women's issue.” “Feminism has required us to look in the opposite direction ' toward laws which would end the marginalization of paying and payor women alike,” Weinberg has said.

Weinberg is the proponent of a bill, currently pending before the New Jersey State Senate, which would establish a commission to study alimony laws to determine what reform, if any, is necessary. Weinberg believes that if there is a commission to study alimony laws, the focus should be on fairness to both parties, with an eye toward “true gender neutrality.”

New Jersey follows the trend among several other states to reexamine alimony laws. Recently, the Massachusetts Legislature unanimously approved a law that sets specific time limits on alimony for marriages of 20 years or less. It also terminates alimony when the payor reaches full retirement age.

Critics of the law complain that its language is unclear and confusing, leading some judges to misinterpret the law, and others simply to ignore it. The inconsistencies in the application of alimony awards have thus nary been ameliorated, and perhaps have even been exacerbated.

As a result, input from attorneys and judges is needed to guide any state legislative body considering reform to address existing issues that may lead to divergent alimony awards from courtroom to courtroom. That is the very reason that Weinberg's proposed commission, to be comprised of members ranging from the Attorney General to local family law attorneys, will “consider the experiences of members of the Bar as well as those directly affected” by existing alimony laws.

Eliana Baer is an associate at Fox Rothschild LLP. She can be reached at [email protected] or 609.896.1469.