Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

I have been married in MA for 3 yrs. my wife was the breadwinner and had an excellent job when we married. I have not been able to work all throughout the marriage due to an accident that I had before we were married and am still waiting to get disability. During the marriage, my wife became ill and could not continue to work. I took care of her while she was confined to a wheelchair. She now receives 2200.00 in SSDI and 2200.00 from a long term disability insurance she had from work. Since I have no income whatsoever may I obtain alimony from either of her income sources?


Asked on 9/12/13, 12:45 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Maybe, I am not sure if SSI is excluded or not. However the maximum amount of support would be about $1200 per month for 18 months assuming they use $4400 as her income. However, once you get disability or SSI, that will go down.

The Court will ask however if you have not qualified for either soc sec disability or workmens comp or some other kind of disabiilty, then they will suggest that you could work and earn something. If they only suggest you should earn minimum wage of $300 per week, then your alimony based on her income of a $1000 per week, falls to $840-950 per month. If they only include her disability, then it is about $250-325 per month. If the court decides you are capable of getting a job that pays more, you might get temporary support in some amount, but less than $1,200 per month.

I also assume there are no children involved which will impact things as well.

If you have an attorney assisting you with your support application, I suggest you ask him to press it forward as quickly as you can or you might have to find a job or a family member to take you in.

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Answered on 9/13/13, 9:10 am


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