For some time there has been debate as to whether alimony should be reformed. In Texas, alimony or spousal support is granted only during those circumstances where a spouse is without the means to maintain a reasonable lifestyle. However, courts will also look at a variety of factors as well to determine what amount of alimony one spouse or the other should receive.
One court outside of our state decided that laws concerning alimony need to be gender blind. And though 37 percent of women are said to have greater income than their husbands, it has also been reported that only 3 percent of men receive alimony payments. To put this in perspective, in 2010 there were 380,000 female recipients of alimony across the country as opposed to only 12,000 male recipients.
However, this discrepancy may not be due entirely to women receiving preferential treatment. Instead, these circumstances often come about because men simply refuse to receive any sort of spousal support. Men sometimes view the receiving of alimony as a sign of weakness.
The goal of alimony never was to see one spouse ruin their life. Instead it will hopefully be implemented fairly so that each spouse can go on with their lives without hardship in a manner that they were accustomed to before any divorce took place.
Even if any sort of alimony reform is passed, experienced family law lawyers continue to treat each case as deserving of individual attention. There is not a single solution as to how alimony should be implemented.
Source: Huffington Post, “Why Don’t More Men Ask for Alimony?” Joseph E. Cordell, June 26, 2013
