Did you know:
If you agree to an alimony amount during a divorce settlement or have one ordered against you by a judge should you go to trial, modification in the event of income loss is prohibitively expensive to seek and very difficult to obtain?
Case in point: Andy is married for 25 years. At the time of divorce, he is earning $13,000 per month and paying his ex-wife, who works full-time, $2,500 per month in alimony. In the economic collapse, Andy loses his job. In the meantime, his former spouse moves her boyfriend into her home and continues working full time. Andy seeks a modification, and uses up most of his savings to finally get in front of a judge. For his efforts, he is rewarded with a reduction of $500 per month. Andy is now earning $1,800 per month in unemployment, while $2,000 goes to his working former spouse. Andy therefore has a deficit of $200 per month with no money for his own expenses.
Did you know:
It is complete irrelevant whether the earning spouse wanted the non-earning spouse to work during the marriage?
Case in point: Charles married Sally when they were both fresh out of college (he graduated, she did not). They decided together to have children, with the understanding that Sally would complete her college degree and seek employment once the children were enrolled in school. Charles paid for Sally to obtain her degree, and then spent the next 15 years asking her to go back to work, as per their agreement. Sally refused. Sally filed for divorce years later, and is awarded 50% of the assets and 50% of Charles' retirement account. She is also awarded "indefinite" (read: permanent) alimony, and Charles now pays over 56% of his income to her. Sally now works, but has chosen a commission-based profession in which she had no experience during a time when that industry was at an all-time low.
Did you know:
It is irrelevant what led to the breakdown of the marriage when alimony is being determined?
Case in point: Ted and Cathy are married for 20 years. Cathy is an attorney and Ted is a stay-at-home parent. Ted reconnects with his high school girlfriend through Facebook, and falls in love with her. He leaves Cathy and the kids for his new/old love, and is awarded indefinite spousal support in return. The divorce coincides with a big year for Cathy at work, but since she is a partner in a law firm, her income varies wildly from year to year. As a result, while the original alimony award to Ted was 35% of her income, it is now 60%. She would like to seek a modification but all her money must go to running the home and supporting the children.
What does OAR hope to accomplish?
Fundamentally, OAR believes that an alimony payer should not have a permanent or indefinite duty to maintain a former spouse’s chosen standard of living, but rather that each former spouse should be entitled to a fair and equitable standard of living for a reasonable but limited period of time post divorce.
Oregon is one of fourteen States that has recently seen the collective formation of alimony advocacy groups and legislators are listening. In 2011, Massachusetts implemented sweeping alimony reforms, Florida’s House Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly approved the drafting of a new alimony bill and New Jersey’s Judiciary Committee voted in favor of a bill dealing with alimony reform.
We are working towards the holistic amendment of alimony laws in Oregon. Our agenda for alimony reform includes:
- limiting the duration of alimony payments to a reasonable period of time;
- establishment of a set of guidelines, similar to those used in child support calculations, to provide predictability and consistency in alimony judgments;
- a rebuttable presumption that the standard of living post-divorce will be lower than that enjoyed during the marriage;
- excluding the income of a payer’s romantic partners and future spouses in determining alimony amounts;
- the end of alimony payments on remarriage or cohabitation of recipient;
- limits on the maximum amounts of alimony payable;
- automatic termination of alimony payments upon good-faith retirement; and
- a streamlined process for modifications when the payer suffers a decline in income.
OAR is working tirelessly to ensure that arbitrary and indefinite alimony awards become a legacy of the past. We have been approached by numerous alimony payers who struggle simply to make ends meet, while their previous spouses enjoy the fruits of their labor indefinitely. Many alimony payers are legally forced into a lifetime of servitude, working solely to benefit adults capable of exercising some responsibility for their own lives.
With over 40% of marriages ending in divorce, the negative economic impact of this current situation on payers and their subsequent families is enormous. We invite alimony payers to join their voices to ours and encourage them to contact us and share their stories in any of the following ways:
- OAR Facebook page (www.facebook.com/oregon.alimony.reform),
- OAR email (or.alimony.reform@gmail.com),
- OAR website: http://sites.google.com/site/oregonalimonyreform), or
- OAR phone: 503-303-8422
- Text 42828 with the subject "OAR" to be placed on our mailing list
Thank you for your support of Oregon Alimony Reform.
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