by Jeff Franklin

Created on: March 26, 2010   Last Updated: March 29, 2010

Absolutely, alimony should be abolished, banned, outlawed, even made unconstitutional. From the onset, the concept of alimony has been an insult and an unnecessary evil to an already hurting divorced couple.

I have always maintained, that anyone with a gram of common sense and logic in their head would conclude, that a prenuptial agreement or a default state law would define how assets get divided after the marriage terminates. For instance: along with a ban on alimony, would be a ban on so called "community property law" (sometimes called common law) as well. Instead, the state "default law" (in the absence of a prenuptial agreement that states otherwise) should declare that any assets and income that the individual husband or wife brought into the marriage, would be retained with that same person after the marriage. This is only fair. If one of the partners wanted any division of assets and income different than that stated above, (such as the automatic 50/50% that wrongful “community property law” presently does), then the time to so state these wishes is BEFORE the marriage with a prenuptial agreement, NOT during or after the marriage - a time when it‘s too late. Furthermore, a prenuptial agreement will prevail and override any state "community property law". Additionally, a prenuptial agreement would have to be honored in any of the 50 states regardless of the state it was first written in.

The present system in most states is, not surprisingly, backwards. "Default marriage law" in most states allows alimony and/or "community property law". As implied above, community property law dictates to all couples in absence of a prenuptial agreement, that assets and income are divided 50/50 REGARDLESS of who generates or has the most income or assets. One has no say otherwise, unless there is a prenuptial agreement. Needless to say, how unfair the logic here is. The evil of community property law has even infiltrated many state income tax rules. Give it time, and it will even be in the federal income tax code. So much for fairness consideration in our politicians. Politicians have invaded the marriage with this nonsense as well.

As for alimony, like community property law, one partner or the other should not be forced against his or her will to pay the other partner after a divorce or dissolution of marriage. If states would ban community property law and adopt an alternative "default law" I have proposed above, as well as encourage the use of prenuptial agreements, the horrible evil of alimony and all its controversy could be logically and fairly eliminated in one fell sweep!

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