Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Alimony forever?

My initial response to your question is that, if you are not already working with an attorney in this case, you are making a serious, and probably costly, mistake. Whenever there are monetary issues involved in a contested divorce, you need the help of an experienced family law attorney. Once a court enters an Order regarding how the marital assets will be divided and how much if any alimony you will have to pay, it's extremely difficult to change anything.

The payment and amount of alimony is determined by a number of factors. Length of marriage, relative income-earning ability and health of the parties, who was responsible for the breakup of the marriage are a few. Sometimes the court orders rehabilitative alimony for a limited period of time to allow the more needy spouse to get a job or the training needed for one. If due to age, health or experience, coupled with your ability to pay, she can't be reasonably expected to become self-supporting, you may have to pay over a longer term. Once you retire and your pension kicks in, that should supplant your alimony payments. An order will be entered directing the pension plan administrator to divide the pension benefits and pay her share directly to her.