Thursday, June 20, 2013

Divorce Mediation and Alimony Reform

A recent Time Magazine article: Is this the End of Alimony As We Know It? by Belinda Luscombe, highlights the fact that in many jurisdictions, alimony can create long-term financial burdens on the payer, and, as a result, alimony reform is a growing movement across the United States.

In some states, such as Massachusetts, depending on the length of the marriage, alimony for life had been a standard reality. When a spouse was awarded alimony for life it meant that the payor was required to pay alimony to the payee until either one of them died, or until the payee remarried, whichever came first. In many cases, alimony carried with it a large financial burden for the payor and in many circumstances the payee received, or was scheduled to receive, alimony for longer than the marriage had lasted. This all changed in Massachusetts when The Alimony Reform Act was signed by Governor Duval Patrick on September 26, 2011 and went into effect for alimony judgments entered on or after March 1, 2012.

Read about the major changes to alimony made through this act in Heidi Werther's posting on MWI's Divorce Mediation Blog.

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