Is court ordered alimony lawful and ethical?

Maintenance is a term used for the right of a spouse to receive spousal support while the parties are still married. Alimony is spousal support after a divorce decree is final. Before maintenance will be ordered in a pending divorce case, many courts will require proof that parties are living separate and apart. Generally, the purpose of maintenance and alimony is to ensure an adequate income stream for persons whose economic dependency has resulted from the marriage. Alimony is also intended to improve any economic imbalance in the earning power and standard of living between the spouses. Alimony can be awarded to either spouse. There is a trend to order spousal support less frequently than in the past. This trend is a result of the fact that an increased number of couples have both parties working and there is an increased availability of marital property to be divided and distributed between spouses. Courts have wide discretion in awarding spousal support (maintenance and alimony). An award of spousal support can be in an amount as high as is necessary for the maintenance of the party requesting it. The Arkansas Courts generally consider the following factors in making a determination of whether to award spousal support: A. the financial circumstances of both parties; B. the financial needs and obligations of both parties; C. the couple?s past standard of living; 22 D. the value of jointly owned property; E. the amount and nature of the income, both current and anticipated, of both parties; F. the extent and nature of the resources and assets of each of the parties; G. the amount of income of each that is spendable; H. the amounts which, after entry of decree, will be available to each of the parties for payment of living expenses; I. the earning ability and capacity of both parties; J. property awarded or given to one of the parties, either by the court or the other party; K. the disposition made of the homestead or jointly owned property; L. the health condition and medical needs of both parties; M. the duration of the marriage; and N. the amount of child support awarded. There are certain circumstances warranting an award of alimony. It is certainly not mandatory in divorces. When the factors listed above are present, it is quite common to see an award of alimony. Gender does not make a different. Because more and more women are in the workplace, with high paying jobs, I have seen cases where a stay-at-home father seeks alimony.

Clearly its lawful.. and mostly ethical. Generally alimony is awarded because of the recognition that one party to the marriage supported the union in a non-economic way or made sacrifices to their careers to support the marriage. Traditionally that includes a woman staying home to raise the kids that allows a man to go off to work to advance his career. I have also seen alimony awarded when a traditional man wants his woman to stay at home ... he is too proud to allow his woman to work. However, I also think it may be unethical for a woman to get alimony when she is a stay at home wife (especially when there is no kids) because she simply does not want to work. Regardless, its the traditional gender roles that have driven the fact that men are much more likely than women to pay alimony. And finally I have seen some men (albeit not a significant number) who were "house husbands" getting alimony from their powerful ex wives it is low in number just because more men are the "breadwinners" in a family.

Alimony goes both ways, not just for the woman. If a man is dependent he is eligible for alimony also if he qualifies.

I have male clients getting alimony. It's more common now than you think. In California look at FC section 4320

Currently alimony may be revisited by the state of Florida Legislature and may be substantially reduced or eliminated. I agree alimony should not exist it allows people to leech off of other people with no incentive to work.

In Idaho, spousal support is available to either partner to get the partner on his or her feet. Rarely does it go beyond three years, although I know of a case where it has been ordered for 8 years. That was a case where the woman did stay home with the children, moved with her husband 9 times in a 14 year period for his job and he committed adultery.