Mansfield Alimony Lawyer Discusses How Alimony is Calculated

As an experienced Mansfield Alimony Lawyer, I often handle calculations of alimony and support for clients.  Massachusetts has had a huge change in the alimony law as of April 2012. Up until that point, alimony was generally for a lifetime. A payor spouse would be required to pay alimony until their death, or in a case when an agreement says that alimony would expire on retirement.

The alimony laws now set a time length for how long alimony will be paid and will be dependent upon how long the parties have been married. There is a breakdown in the alimony laws for each length of marriage:

• 0-5 years
• 5-10 years
• 10-15 years
• 15-20 years

After 20 years of marriage, alimony can be an indefinite term.  A caveat to this would be when the judge looks at the ability of the breadwinning spouse to pay the support and the needs of the other. If the receiving spouse doesn’t have a need for alimony, the alimony might not get paid. When someone has been the breadwinner throughout the marriage and the other has a lesser earning capacity, the alimony law now says it would apply. The number of months you are required to pay alimony depends on how long you’ve been married.  The length of the marriage is calculated from the date of the marriage to the date the divorce is served.

If you have been paying a lifetime alimony agreement and want to modify it, will all depend if you have signed a surviving alimony clause. When you sign a surviving alimony clause, the clause is not modifiable.   You can’t modify them because both parties agreed that it would be non-modifiable. The right to modify will also depend on how long it’s been since your agreement was signed. The alimony law grandfathers these people in and does not give them the ability to come back to court if they have a merging alimony clause.

Are you going through a divorce, and want to know how much alimony you will have to pay?  Contact experienced Mansfield Alimony Lawyer Cynthia Hanley for guidance.

This informational blog post was brought to you by Cynthia L. Hanley, an experienced Mansfield Alimony Lawyer.