Alimony
Alimony Amount and Duration
In a nutshell, a court determines how much alimony needs to be paid and for how long based on all of the facts and circumstances.
The Criteria
Officially, the amount of alimony and for how long payments must be made is determined by 16 factors specified in § 50-16.3A(b) as follows:
(1) The marital misconduct of either of the spouses. Nothing herein shall prevent a court from considering incidents of post date-of-separation marital misconduct as corroborating evidence supporting other evidence that marital misconduct occurred during the marriage and prior to date of separation;
(2) The relative earnings and earning capacities of the spouses;
(3) The ages and the physical, mental, and emotional conditions of the spouses;
(4) The amount and sources of earned and unearned income of both spouses, including, but not limited to, earnings, dividends, and benefits such as medical, retirement, insurance, social security, or others;
(5) The duration of the marriage;
(6) The contribution by one spouse to the education, training, or increased earning power of the other spouse;
(7) The extent to which the earning power, expenses, or financial obligations of a spouse will be affected by reason of serving as the custodian of a minor child;
(8) The standard of living of the spouses established during the marriage;
(9) The relative education of the spouses and the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the spouse seeking alimony to find employment to meet his or her reasonable economic needs;
(10) The relative assets and liabilities of the spouses and the relative debt service requirements of the spouses, including legal obligations of support;
(11) The property brought to the marriage by either spouse;
(12) The contribution of a spouse as homemaker;
(13) The relative needs of the spouses;
(14) The federal, State, and local tax ramifications of the alimony award;
(15) Any other factor relating to the economic circumstances of the parties that the court finds to be just and proper.
(16) The fact that income received by either party was previously considered by the court in determining the value of a marital or divisible asset in an equitable distribution of the parties' marital or divisible property.
In Practice
Alimony is effectively whatever the judge thinks is fair under all of the facts and circumstances. Did you notice factor 15 is literally any other financial information the court finds relevant? Alimony verdicts notoriously vary widely from one judge to the next, because the criteria is subjective. Alimony claims are also one of the most difficult to settle, since either spouse can cherry-pick and interpret the factors in their favor.
However, there are some factors that stand out more than others. The duration of the marriage is important. Alimony payments are often ordered for about 40-50% however long the marriage was. Then, the amount of alimony is often tied closely to factors 2 and 8 (relative incomes and standard of living). While virtually everyone has to cut back on expenses after a divorce, most judges will look at how much money the dependent needs to pay reasonable bills in the context of the financial liabilities established by the standard of living during the marriage.
Calculations
There are numerous ways to attempt to calculate alimony for settlement purposes. Often, a spouse will offer 20% the gap in income between the spouses for 50% the duration of the marriage. There are also a variety of formulas that can be used from other states.