Forget who you think pays
The old assumption is that the husband pays the wife. That is no longer how this works. More women are the higher earner, and since Lewis v. Harris same sex couples have the same rights and benefits as opposite sex married couples. Alimony follows the money, not the roles.
There is no formula
New Jersey does not have a calculator for alimony. There is no set sum and no set length. It is fact heavy, it is argued case by case, and the court works through the list of factors in N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(b) to reach both the amount and the duration.
Anyone who tells you what your number will be before the facts are in is guessing.
The four kinds of alimony
New Jersey changed its alimony law, and permanent alimony no longer exists. A court can award one of these, or a combination:
- Open durational. Generally for marriages of more than twenty years. This is what replaced permanent alimony. There is no end date set at the start, but it can be ended later if the receiving spouse becomes financially independent or circumstances change.
- Limited duration. Usually where alimony is right but the marriage was under twenty years. There is no formula for the length; the judge fixes it when the award is made.
- Rehabilitative. Where one spouse put their own career aside or left work to support the other's. It pays for the education or retraining needed to get their earning power back up.
- Reimbursement. Pays a spouse back for having carried the other through school or training.
Support while the divorce is still going
A spouse can be entitled to support during the divorce itself, before anything is final. That is called pendente lite alimony. It is temporary, and it exists so the receiving spouse can pay for basic living costs while the case runs.
What the court weighs
Under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(b) the court considers, among other things:
- What each of you needs, and what each of you is able to pay
- How long the marriage or civil union lasted
- The age and the physical and emotional health of each of you
- The standard of living you had together, and whether each of you can keep something comparable. Neither of you has a greater right to it than the other
- The education, current earnings and earning potential of each of you
- How long the person asking for support has been out of work
- What each of you is responsible for with the children
- The time and the cost of getting the training or education needed for suitable work, whether it is even available, and the chance of building up assets in future
- What each of you put into the marriage, money and otherwise, including child care and any career or education given up
- How the marital property was divided, including any payments out of current income
- Income either of you can earn from investments or assets
- The tax consequences of an award for both of you
- Any temporary support already paid while the case was running
- Anything else the court finds relevant
Does it matter whose fault it was
Mostly no. The court does not award alimony, or refuse it, to punish somebody for how the marriage ended.
Money behavior is different. If a spouse burns through marital funds, or quits work on purpose thinking it will help them in the divorce, the court can and does take that into account.
Changing or ending it later
Alimony is not fixed forever. Life changes, and so can the order. The party asking for the change carries the burden, and generally has to prove a change in circumstances that is substantial, unforeseeable and permanent. That is a real hurdle.
The changes that usually come up are:
- A substantial involuntary drop in your income
- A business failing
- A substantial rise in your former spouse's income
- A significant cut to your overall compensation package
- Retiring from your profession, in good faith
- Permanent disability
- The supported spouse remarrying, which normally ends it
- The supported spouse living with a new partner in something that looks like a marriage
- Long term unemployment on either side
There is more on this on our Modification Orders page.