What do you know about Alimony?

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  • What do you know about Alimony?

    i have a character who has a dwindling small fortune and his cheating wife is about to divorce him and try to get him for as much as possible.

    if she gets alimony, would he have to pay it even if he's unemployed or not making as much money as he once was?
    One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

    The Fiction Story Room

  • #2
    Re: What do you know about Alimony?

    What state?
    Last night, Jesus appeared to me in a dream and told me that loving me is the part of His job He hates the most.

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    • #3
      Re: What do you know about Alimony?

      hmm good question. i will probably either set it in California or New York.
      One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

      The Fiction Story Room

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      • #4
        Re: What do you know about Alimony?

        I believe NY still has divorce. California has dissolution of marriage (no fault). Very different laws.
        Last night, Jesus appeared to me in a dream and told me that loving me is the part of His job He hates the most.

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        • #5
          Re: What do you know about Alimony?

          Maybe I can help with this...

          First, if it is in NY, the term they use now is MAINTENANCE... occasionally you will see SPOUSAL SUPPORT.

          Here are the factors people fight about so see how this figures into what you want to do:

          1. Standard of living the parties established during the marriage

          2. Whether the party in whose favor maintenance is granted lacks sufficient property and income to provide for his or her reasonable needs

          3. Whether the other party has sufficient property or income to provide for the reasonable needs of the other

          4. Other relevant circumstances of the case and the parties (the law is full catchalls so the court can do what it thinks is fair)

          5. Other factors often considered are:
          a. age and health of both parties
          b. duration of the marriage
          c. present and future earning capacity of the parties
          d. ability of the party seeking maintenance to become self supporting
          e. The wasteful dissipation of marital property by either party
          ... there are some other factors too which I can give you if you want but the list gets long and tell me if this is what you're looking for before I drone on!
          Last edited by tucsonray; 07-25-2010, 05:17 PM.
          Seven years dungeon --- no trials!

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          • #6
            Re: What do you know about Alimony?

            new jersey has something called 'perpetual alimony':


            if the husband/wife are together for more than 17 years, then the person recieving alimony is entitled to a certain percentage of the other spouse's income for the rest of their lives. usually 40-50%.

            alimony here is based on the payee's EARNING POTENTIAL and the recipient's ability to support his/herself.


            Child support is also based on a weekly income formula, very much seperate from alimony,

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            • #7
              Re: What do you know about Alimony?

              There have been many cases where someone ends up paying more in alimony than they earn.

              Imagine if I have an income of $500k. I may end up paying (say) $200k.

              However, the year after the divorce I suddenly claim that after earning half a million a year, I now have only an income of $10k. (My consulting is via a network of companies that seem to somehow not be earning me any money on paper. However I'm still driving an expensive car and flying luxury corporate jets where ever I go)

              What would be the judge's response ?

              The problem, of course, is that some guys who have been working 90 hour weeks for years suddenly get a wake-up call when the wife and kids leave them. So they quit their jobs to spend more time with the kids and not work themselves to death.

              However, now nobody believes that they really are earning virtually nothing ! Even if the judge does believe them - it can take a while so you can end up paying a lot more than you earn for a while.

              Of course - if he doesn't have an income if he has 'a small fortune' then she'll be claiming some of that straight up.

              Mac
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              • #8
                Re: What do you know about Alimony?

                you should place your story in whatever state you need to accomplish the divorce/alimony conflict and goals in your story.

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                • #9
                  Re: What do you know about Alimony?

                  Divorcing spouse would get HALF of the estate (if it's community property state and no pre-nup) as of the time of the divorce filing. They'd file a restraining order preventing money squandering spouse to stop spending aside from house note/car note and have that served.

                  Alimony is based on income of the spouses. Not sure what income your parties have. Child support is a separate obligation from alimony and is due to the spouse with primary custody.

                  Usual advice to a spouse seeking divorce: Drain the bank accounts and grab the cash while you can. Much easier if you're holding the football to play this game.

                  Don't count on the other spouse to pay house note/car note if they are f*ck up. Seen them allow it to be repo'd/foreclosed regardless. Spite or stupidity reigns in divorce.

                  Divorce court (now cynically retitled "Family Court") typically is 'man bend over' court. For example, a man who does not file within certain time limits (even if he has been misled/lied to) will have to pay child support until a child NOT HIS reaches 18. So women are rewarded for dishonesty/cheating by the legal system. Ain't that a kick?
                  "I talked to a couple of yes men at Metro. To me they said no."


                  http://wagstaffnet.blogspot.com/

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                  • #10
                    Re: What do you know about Alimony?

                    Can't he just make it up? Who's going to look up divorce law while reading script or watching movie? Did anybody research the possibility of dream inception before or after the movie?
                    Last night, Jesus appeared to me in a dream and told me that loving me is the part of His job He hates the most.

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                    • #11
                      Re: What do you know about Alimony?

                      I'm willing to bet more people practice law than dream inception. There's also plenty of gold diggers and poor schmucks that probably know the ropes of this law too being as the divorce rate is over 60%. I just don't want to be too far off the mark.
                      One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

                      The Fiction Story Room

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