Property Division in Lieu of Alimony
May 12, 2016
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.]
Yesterday we talked about the interplay of alimony and property division. Often it can make sense to pay more alimony in exchange for a more favorable property division. Note the reverse can be true, in a sense – the court can adjust its property division to make up for the fact it may not be able to award alimony.
Alimony is typically not available to a spouse who is guilty of a fault issue – for example, adultery. In other words, if a spouse has an extramarital affair, and that is the cause of the divorce, then that spouse cannot be awarded alimony in most cases.
Notwithstanding what the parties could get at trial, keep in mind that divorcing spouses could almost always agree to do whatever they want. So even where a spouse cannot get alimony at trial, the other spouse may be better off agreeing to pay alimony anyway. Every case is different, but the moral of the story is this – when considering property issues, don’t forget about alimony as an option, and think about making alimony and property division work together to achieve a good outcome for both parties.