How Do Judges Rule on Alimony?

If you want to know how judges rule on alimony, we need to first talk about the law in Massachusetts. Generally, each spouse should be on equal footing—meaning one spouse shouldn’t live in a castle and the other living in a hovel. Each spouse should have the support they need to be able to maintain the quality of life and lifestyle they did during the marriage or to a point that both of them had to make some sort of an adjustment.

Judges consider the following for alimony:

• The length of a marriage
• The income of each spouse
• The earning capacity of each spouse
• Any current needs of each spouse
• Children from the marriage
• Instances of abuse, adultery, or other serious marriage problems

In the past, judges couldn’t terminate alimony. If you were married five or eight years, you could be locked in to pay alimony for life. However, now there are guidelines. For example, if you’re married less than five years, you pay half the number of months of your marriage of alimony. If you’re married 5 to 10 years, you pay 60% of the number of months you were married. Unless it gets over 20 years, it will never hit 100% like it used to.

How Cohabitation Affects Cases of Alimony

Other issues of alimony include cohabitation by the recipient spouse, which is a reason you could terminate alimony. In these situations, you will need to look at bank statements, tax returns, and credit information. You should think about social media if you’re trying to prove cohabitation. Are there pictures of this new friend at birthday parties, graduations or holidays? Take a look at airline records and hotel reward programs and time stamps that show where this “cohabitating friend” has been, with whom, and for how long.