Legal Question in Family Law in Kansas

Both my lawyer & I were baffled by judge's ruling...

I went through an extremely nasty and unpleasant divorce. About six months after my divorce, the company I was working for laid me off, and it took me 7 1/2 months to find another job and I took about a 33% cut in salary. My lawyer filed a motion in court to have my alimony (maintenance) reduced, and to also have an adjustment made for the period of unemployment. My ex refused to reach a settlement with me, it went to court, and the judge ruled to keep the alimony right where it was, refused to adjust for the period of unemployement, and ordered me to pay half of my ex's legal fees ($2,000). Despite my lawyer's request for the reason for this decision, the judge refused to give a reason for his decision. My lawyer offered to ''appeal'' the decision at no charge, but when I asked him if the appeal would go to another judge, he told me that the ''appeal'' was really a request to the same same to ask him to reconsider his decision. I decided not to pursue because there was a possibility that he would ask to to pay 100% of my ex's legal fees.

What grounds could the judge have had for such an unfair, baffling decision?


Asked on 8/26/02, 4:06 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bonnie Selby Bonnie J. Selby, Attorney at Law

Re: Both my lawyer & I were baffled by judge's ruling...

I no longer handle domestic cases adversarilary, i mediate them, however, your attorney offered to file a Petition asking the judge to 'reconsider his decision'. ..not an appeal. Should the judge decline to reconsider, then your attorney could appeal the decision to a higher court. Perhaps you should take him up on that offer, if you were really truly released from your former position. Often the court sees a person who has been ordered an alimony they consider too high, change positions for a lower paying one. The burden is on the person ordered to pay to show that the expectation of salary is indeed lower due to no fault of the person. Statutorially, the court is constrained to observe the former order, especially if there is no mention of reconsidering the alimony/maintenance in the property settlement agreement in case of job failure. Listen to your counsel.

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Answered on 8/26/02, 8:19 pm


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