No

by Carole Ligi

Created on: July 03, 2010

There are arguments that alimony is archaic and unnecessary as part of a divorce settlement. The reason for this particular argument is that more women are in the workforce and that both spouses work and financially contributes to the household expenses.  Therefore, neither needs financial assistance after a divorce.  This type of argument is making the assumption that all women continue to work even after starting a family.  This is not always the case. 

Many spouses, the majority being females, including those with high paying jobs and college degrees; have chosen to stay at home for a period of time to raise their children.  Both spouses agreed that one spouse staying at home to take care of the children is in the best interest of the family.    

But marriages do not always work as planned.  Many factors may contribute to the demise of the marriage including infidelity, simply growing apart or other factors such as physical and emotional abuse.  

If both are in the workforce and both contributed financially to household expenses then alimony is not always necessary, but division of assets acquired during the course of the marriage should be divided in an equitable manner no matter who made the greater income.  The items were purchased for the family not just one individual.  Items acquired before the marriage of course should go back to the original owners. 

Regardless of the reasons behind the divorce there are many factors of why alimony should be awarded for the spouses that stayed home to raise the children to restart their lives.  Factors behind the necessity for alimony include: 

1.  It is necessary to restart their lives and will need temporary assistance in obtaining financial independence including updating skills to reenter and compete in the workforce. 

2.  If one partner controlled the finances then the spouse may need the means to live independently and will need financial assistance to reenter the workforce.  This will help eliminate the need for government financial aid to exist while reentering the workforce.  

3.  Also the time period of alimony should factor in the standard of living of both divorced partners, the age of the spouse reentering the workforce, and the age of the children. 

4.  The stay at home spouse devoted time to taking care of the household, children and the jobs that go along with that.  They simply are not paid for their labor financially.  But they still contributed.  The old line of the spouse that brought home a pay check that “I work,” is used to diminish the contribution of the stay at home spouse.  Work is not always judged by dollar figures.  Cooking, cleaning and child care is also labor even though often a labor of love.  Taking care of the household is still work and should be viewed equally as a significant contribution.  

5.  The length of the marriage is also a determining factor for alimony.  While not all areas agree, the usual rule of a long term marriage is over 10 years in most jurisdictions. 

When children are involved then child support should be an automatic requirement.  It is not the children’s fault regarding the divorce. Whether the parents are married or divorce the children’s needs of clothes, food, shelter and childcare have not changed.  

Depending on the age of the children, the cost of childcare will likely increase.  Both parties should contribute to the cost of childcare as the stay-at-home spouse may now have to use childcare to reenter the workforce and the spouse who is not the guardian parent will have to supplement this need. 

The argument that after the divorce the standard of living changes for both spouses and both spouses should adjust is true. However, the guardian spouse and the children should not suffer detrimentally while the other spouse’s lifestyle improves to the disadvantage of the children.  Children suffer enough due to the divorce of their parents.  Don't punish them further by eliminating alimony. 

Alimony should not be a permanent fixture, but simply as a means to help the stay-at-home spouse who worked for years maintaining a home, update skills and reenter the workforce. 

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