Temporary Alimony or Alimony Pendente Lite

Temporary Alimony or "Alimony Pendente Lite" is a court ordered temporary alimony awarded during the time an action for separation or divorce is pending. The purpose for Temporary Alimony is to provide support during the divorce process so that each spouse can maintain his or her standard of living.

Temporary alimony can also be referred to as temporary spousal support, or allowance pendent lite.

The term "Alimony" should be distinguished from Child Support as the two are separate legal principles.

Divorce: Alimony

I once had a law professor say that he would never allow his daughter to get married without a legal form called a prenuptial agreement. He said the true test of a perspective son-in-law's love was "the boy's" willingness to agree not to take anything that didn't belong to him should the marriage break up. I responded that some would argue the true test of love is one's willingness (i.e. his daughter) to gamble that the marriage will never break up by not signing a prenup.

In any case, if you do not sign a prenuptial agreement and your marriage ends in divorce chances are the topic of Alimony (a/k/a Spousal Support) will need to be addressed. The purpose of alimony is to assist the unemployed or lower earning spouse weather the unfair financial consequences of divorce by requiring the higher earning spouse to provide a continuing income for his or her former spouse. This is very often the most contentious part of divorce as both spouses battle to prove how little or great their incomes are for purposes of determining if alimony should be paid and who should be required to pay alimony.

Determining Alimony
Alimony and Child Support are two completely different issues and, in most states, are treated very differently. Child Support is usually determined using specific statutory guidelines based on a breadwinning parent's income. Check out my article on Child Support for more information.

Alimony, on the other hand, does not rely on uniform statutory guidelines. Instead, courts have broad discretion in determining whether, how much and how long Alimony is to be awarded. Many state statutes provide factors for a court to consider in determining Alimony. Courts are usually not mandated (but encouraged) to use the following factors:

(1) The standard of living established during the marriage;
(2) The duration of the marriage;
(3) The age and the physical and emotional condition of each party;
(4) The financial resources of each party, the nonmarital and the marital assets and liabilities distributed to each;
(5) The contribution of each party to the marriage, including, but not limited to, services rendered in homemaking, child care, education, and career building of the other party;
(6) All sources of income available to either party; and
(7) When applicable, the time necessary for either party to acquire sufficient education or training to enable such party to find appropriate employment.

The above factors are just some of the factors a court may look at in determining Alimony.

Types of Alimony
There are several types of alimony a court may award depending on the immediacy and type of need. These include (1) Temporary Alimony; (2) Rehabilitative Alimony; (3) Permanent Alimony; (4) Reimbursement Alimony; and (5) Lump-sum Payment Alimony.

Temporary Alimony is alimony awarded while the parties are separated pending final divorce. This type of alimony is common where one spouse has no source of income and the breadwinning spouse has refused to support his or her spouse.

Rehabilitative Alimony is alimony awarded to a no income or lower income spouse to allow him or her to seek employment training or otherwise learn to increase his or her earning power until he or she can be self-supporting. Rehabilitative Alimony is usually for a fixed time period (i.e. until the kids are 18, etc.).

Permanent Alimony is alimony awarded without a set time for termination. Permanent Alimony usually terminates upon when either the paying or receiving spouse dies, or the receiving spouse remarries. Permanent Alimony may also terminate if the receiving spouse cohabitates for a certain length of time and the cohabitating partners substantially share the burden of day to day expenses.

Reimbursement Alimony is alimony awarded to reimburse one spouse for expenses incurred by the other. This type of alimony might be awarded when one spouse supports the other through college and the divorce occurs shortly after graduation. The supporting spouse might be awarded Reimbursement Alimony as compensation for the support given to his or her spouse.

Lump-sum Payment Alimony is alimony awarded in one or a series of fixed payments required to be made no matter what circumstances might arise. Lump-sum Payment Alimony is usually not affected by the death or remarriage of either spouse. Lump-sum Payment Alimony is usually used to avoid making the paying spouse have to sell his or her property and divide the proceeds.

Divorce: Florida Simplified Dissolution of Marriage

An acquaintance of mine came in a month or so ago and said that she and her husband were getting a divorce. She said she didn't hate him and didn't think he hated her and that the marriage had been one of convenience. Both have successful medical careers and she said that as their careers had evolved they spent less and less time with each other and more time at work. I won't get into why, but the marriage was apparently no longer convenient.

By way of background, she and her husband were both born, raised and currently live in Florida. They were married about two years ago. She has two children from a previous marriage, but they do not have children together. About a year ago they bought a house and have agreed to sell the house and split the equity. They do not jointly own any other assets. Without getting into my opinion on what I think about marriages for convenience, I told her they may consider filing for a Simplified Dissolution of Marriage. Had either party contested the divorce I would have advised that they consider Divorce Mediation first. By the way, she gave me her approval to use the facts of her situation in this post.

Simplified Dissolution of Marriage
In Florida, as in a number of other states, a couple may file for a Simplified Dissolution of Marriage if the following criteria are met:

(1) Both spouses have lived in Florida for at least six (6) months;

(2) Both spouses agree that the marriage cannot be saved;

(3) Both spouses have no minor or dependent children together and the wife is not currently pregnant;

(4) Both spouses have worked out how the two will divide their assets and who will pay what part of their liabilities, and they are both satisfied with the division;

(5) Neither spouse is seeking alimony;

(6) Neither spouse wishes to have any financial information provided by the other spouse other than that contained in the financial affidavits;

(7) Both spouses are willing to give up their rights to trial and appeal;

(8) Both spouses are willing to go to the clerk's office to sign the petition (not necessarily together);

(9) Both spouses are willing to attend the Final Hearing at the same time.

If your circumstances are similar to those experienced by my client and meet the above criteria you are likely eligible for a Simplified Dissolution of Marriage. If one of the above criteria is not met, contact an experienced divorce attorney as soon as possible. An experienced attorney will be able to assess your legal rights and advise you on alternatives to the Simplified Dissolution of Marriage.

Child Support: He's Hiding Assets

Two weeks ago one of my clients came in with a child support problem. She and her ex-husband divorced four years ago and had two minor children (10 and 12 years old). My client was awarded custody of the children and her ex-husband was ordered to pay child support. The family had substantial assets and my client felt at the time that the child support ordered by the court would be enough to cover the children's needs in the future.

During the past four years my client's ex-husband has been very successful. Prior to the divorce he had made a number of real estate purchases which skyrocketed in value over the past four years. He continues to hold onto the real estate. During that same period of time my client has discovered that raising teenagers is much more expensive than raising young children. She has appealed to her ex-husband to voluntarily increase the child support without having to go back to court. He has refused.

Most states have statutes which set uniform guidelines for awarding child support and allow the court to periodically increase or decrease a child support award when the finances of the paying parent change. We petitioned the court to reassess her ex-husband's finances. The problem we ran into is that the statute setting the uniform guidelines primarily bases an award of child support on the parent's monthly income. In this case, her ex-husband's records showed that his net taxable income per month had not changed. This is so because he had not sold any of the now extremely valuable property. The statute also prohibits placing any type of lien on the property should he sell the property in the future. This will allow him to wait until the children are over the age of 18 before selling the property. If he does this, the children will not be entitled to any portion of the sales proceeds.

A Plea for Equity
My client is now forced to apply to the court for an equitable adjustment to the child support based on the increased value of her ex-husband's assets. It is not likely that the petition will be granted. This could have been avoided had the original divorce decree provided for an increase of the child support based on a net increase in her ex-husband's assets. Remember, although state statutes provide a set of guidelines for establishing child support you are not limited by the guidelines. In most cases, a divorce attorney will anticipate the future needs of the children and the potential for the paying spouse to "hide" income.