How Long Is Alimony Paid In Monmouth County?

Determining the length of time that you will pay (or receive) alimony in a divorce here in Monmouth County is not an exact science.

Judges have wide discretion to set the length that they feel is fair and reasonable under the totality of the circumstances of each case.

This means that if your case was before Judge Smith you may get a different length of alimony than if your case was before Judge Jones.

Here is my approach for estimating the length of time that alimony should be paid in YOUR case.

Answer this question: "Is my marriage 20 years or longer?"

A.  If your marriage is longer than 20 years, then you will have "open duration alimony".

B.  Open Duration Alimony (called "permanent alimony" or, by some people incorrectly "lifetime alimony" previously) means that alimony is paid until a Superior Court judge rules that circumstances have changed such that alimony should end, or unless the recipient of alimony agrees that it should end (if you are a payor, good luck with that one!)

C.  Examples:

       1.)  Somebody who is married at age 20 and got divorced at age 41 would be ordered to pay "open durational alimony".

      2.). Likewise, someone who is married at age 38 and got divorced at age 59 would be ordered to pay (or would receive") "open durational alimony".

D.  The open durational alimony would normally run until the payor is 67 years old, at which time he would file a motion with the court seeking to terminate his alimony obligation.

      1.)  There is a presumption in the law that for someone divorced after September of 2014 that once a payor of alimony reaches age 67, then he should be allowed to stop working and possibly stop paying alimony.

      2.). There is no such presumption for people who were divorced before September of 2014.

E.  If you are married for less than 20 years, the total duration of alimony cannot exceed the length of the marriage. 

      1.)   Usually it will be a few years less.

      2.)  Examples:

             a.  If you were married for 8 years, you cannot be required to pay limited duration alimony (ie, "LDA") for longer than 8 years.

             b.  On a 13 year marriage, there might be alimony for up to 13 years, but usually significantly less time will be either agreed upon to settle the issue or ordered by a judge.

F.  In marriages of less than 20 years, a determination of the length of time that alimony will be paid is made by the judge pursuant to consideration of all of the statutory factors, which include:

      1.  the need of the recipient,

      2.  the ability of the other party to meet that need,

      3.  the length of the marriage,

      4.  the standard of living that existed during the marriage.

      5.  ...and many other similar types of factors that are listed in the NJ alimony statute.

G.  The alimony statute mandates that in addition to those factors, the Judge shall also consider:

      1.  the practical impact of the parties' need for separate residences and the attendant increase in living expenses on the ability of both parties to maintain a standard of living reasonably comparable to the standard of living established in the marriage;

and

       2.  the length of time that it would reasonably take for the recipient to improve his or her earning capacity to a level where limited duration alimony is no longer appropriate.

SO WHAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE?

The bottom line is that if you have a judge decide the issue, the process of determining the length of time that alimony is paid will be similar to the way that this issue will likely be calculated if you and your spouse settle it on your own.