Types of Alimony

• Temporary alimony or alimony pendente lite is alimony given when the parties are separated, but the divorce is not final. (“Pendente lite” is a Latin phrase which means “while the action is pending.”) Alimony may be continued under a different label after the divorce is final, but it need not be.




• Rehabilitative alimony refers to alimony that is given to a spouse so that the spouse may “rehabilitate” herself or himself in the sense of acquiring greater earning power or training in order to become self-supporting. Rehabilitative alimony also might be given to a parent who is staying home with young children until such time as it is considered appropriate for the parent to work outside the home.

  There is no uniform time at which parents are automatically expected to work outside the home, but a common time for the parent to resume work is after the youngest child starts school full-time. (Of course, in many families—intact and divorced—the parents work outside the home when the children are pre-schoolers. And in some families, one parent stays home as long as the children live at home.)

  Rehabilitative alimony is usually for a fixed period of time. The court (or the parties by agreement) may include a provision that the alimony is subject to review at the end of that period. If alimony is subject to review, it means the court may look at the facts of a case at a later time to determine whether alimony should be continued, discontinued, or changed in amount.

  If the order or agreement regarding alimony does not contain a provision for review, it may or may not be reviewable, depending on the law of the state. If the recipient of alimony wants the alimony to be reviewable (with the possibility of continuation), it is best to include language to that effect. If the person paying alimony (the payor) does not want alimony to be continued beyond a certain time, then he or she should seek to have language to that effect included in the agreement or order. A court is likely to approve cessation of alimony on a certain date if that is what the agreement or order calls for, but the court usually has the power to continue alimony in certain circumstances, such as chronic illness of the recipient.



• Permanent alimony continues indefinitely. The main bases for ceasing payments of permanent alimony are the death of the payor, the death of the recipient, or the remarriage of the recipient. Cohabitation of the recipient with another person (particularly a member of the opposite sex) also is a common basis for cessation of permanent alimony. Generally, the cohabitation needs to be of a permanent or near-permanent nature, with the parties who are living together sharing living expenses. A few overnight visits usually do not constitute cohabitation for the purpose of stopping alimony payments.

  Unless an agreement between the parties says otherwise, payments of permanent alimony can be adjusted upwards or downwards based on a change of circumstances. If the recipient gains employment at a well-paying job or receives a significant amount of money from another source, that might be a basis for reducing alimony payments. If the recipient incurs unexpected medical expenses (that are not covered by insurance), that might be a basis for increasing alimony payments, if the spouse paying alimony has the ability to pay more.

  A drop in the income of the payor, including at retirement, can be a basis for reducing alimony. Courts may examine the reason for a drop in income. If the drop in income of the payor is not the fault of the payor, the court is more likely to approve a reduction in alimony. If the drop in income seems to have been engineered by the payor to create a basis for reducing alimony, the court is more likely to disapprove a reduction in alimony.



• Reimbursement alimony, as the name implies, is designed to reimburse one spouse for expenses incurred by the other. If, for example, one spouse helped put the other spouse through college or a training program and the couple divorces soon after the training program is complete, the spouse who supported the family during that period might be able to obtain reimbursement alimony as a payback for the resources spent.

  A classic example is the nurse who marries a medical student and supports the family while the medical student finishes medical school (and perhaps a residency program). If the couple divorces soon after the medical student completed training, the nurse probably would be entitled to reimbursement alimony to compensate her for the money she spent supporting the family during the training program. Although most states would not consider the medical degree “property,” the nurse may be entitled to monetary reimbursement. In this case, reimbursement alimony is not necessarily being given because the nurse needs funds for day-to-day support (since the nurse would seem to be self-supporting). Instead, the alimony is given as an equitable payback for supporting the spouse through medical school.

  Alternatively, a court could choose to give the supporting spouse a substantial majority of marital property in compensation. But in many cases in which one spouse has just completed a training program, the couple has not accumulated a large amount of marital assets. So, reimbursement alimony is given as an alternative. Reimbursement alimony can be paid over a period of time.




• Lump-sum alimony or alimony in gross refers to alimony that is a fixed payment, which generally will be made regardless of circumstances that would be a basis for termination of other types of alimony. For example, lump-sum alimony or alimony in gross normally would be paid even if the recipient remarries. Depending on the wording of the agreement or court order, payments also could be made to the estate of the recipient in the event the recipient dies.

  This type of alimony usually is in lieu of a property settlement. Depending on how the alimony is structured, it could provide a tax advantage to the payor. Lump-sum alimony or alimony in gross could be used as a type of reimbursement alimony to insure that one spouse is paid back for certain expenditures, even if the recipient remarries, cohabits with someone, or does not otherwise need the alimony for day-to-day support.