As divorced Baby Boomers reach retirement age, recession has decimated nest eggs and erased jobs.
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reported a 'big spike' this year in clients seeking to modify their alimony arrangements. In a March 2009 survey, 42% of the group's divorce attorneys reported an "unusual" increase in such cases, with 6% reporting a drop.
In Los Angeles, Family Court Judge Marjorie Steinberg also reports a "dramatic" surge in these requests. She says petitioners include one-time high earners who've lost their jobs, a group she says she'd "rarely seen before."
Many states put formal alimony laws into place in the 1960s and 1970s, amid rising divorce rates and concerns that women earned less than men. States such as California and Massachusetts passed laws that included provisions for indefinite alimony.
Almost 7% of divorce agreements provide for alimony or spouse-support payments, which is separate from child-support payments. Americans gave $9.4 billion to former spouses in 2007, up from $5.6 billion a decade earlier, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Men accounted for 97% of alimony-payers last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, although the share of women supporting ex-husbands is on the rise.
Critics argue that in the decades since alimony guidelines were set, the U.S. has changed much: Women made up 46.7% of the work force last year, up from 41.2% in 1978, according to the Department of Labor. Others counter that America hasn't changed enough: Women in the 45-to-54-year-old age group earn 75% as much as men the same age.
But the momentum appears to be with those who seek to guard alimony payers' shrinking resources.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2009
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reported a 'big spike' this year in clients seeking to modify their alimony arrangements. In a March 2009 survey, 42% of the group's divorce attorneys reported an "unusual" increase in such cases, with 6% reporting a drop.
In Los Angeles, Family Court Judge Marjorie Steinberg also reports a "dramatic" surge in these requests. She says petitioners include one-time high earners who've lost their jobs, a group she says she'd "rarely seen before."
Many states put formal alimony laws into place in the 1960s and 1970s, amid rising divorce rates and concerns that women earned less than men. States such as California and Massachusetts passed laws that included provisions for indefinite alimony.
Almost 7% of divorce agreements provide for alimony or spouse-support payments, which is separate from child-support payments. Americans gave $9.4 billion to former spouses in 2007, up from $5.6 billion a decade earlier, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Men accounted for 97% of alimony-payers last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, although the share of women supporting ex-husbands is on the rise.
Critics argue that in the decades since alimony guidelines were set, the U.S. has changed much: Women made up 46.7% of the work force last year, up from 41.2% in 1978, according to the Department of Labor. Others counter that America hasn't changed enough: Women in the 45-to-54-year-old age group earn 75% as much as men the same age.
But the momentum appears to be with those who seek to guard alimony payers' shrinking resources.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2009