Do you stop getting alimony if you get a job?

no. You wouldn’t keep gettin the money.

@trailsillustrated What if you got a job that paid minimum wage, to help have some extra cash?

You don’t stop getting alimony until you remarry from what I understand. But I imagine it would also depend on the terms of the divorce.

See, factors affecting alimony.

It depends on the court order. Usually alimony continues until you remarry.

changes in income can cause the support levels to change, but this depends on the state and what the incomes were at time of divorce.

It depends on the court. Several courts in this area are only giving alimony for 3–5 years. They figure that is enough time for a person to earn a degree or learn a trade and become self sufficient.

Alimony can also be adjusted if financial circumstances of either party changes. All they have to do is petition the court for a hearing and make their case to the judge.

@WestRiverrat Does it depend on age as well? A 60 year old is probably less likely to get a good job than a 34 year old (age discrimination is a harsh bitch).

@papayalily probably age does make a difference. At the very least the earned retirement is usually ordered split and shared.

Depends entirely upon the terms of your specific divorce.
Employment or remarrying may or may not have any effect on alimony.

Length of the marriage also effects how long payments will be paid.

It depends on the term of the divorce. I had a friend who had to pay alimony for five years or until she remarried, which ever came first.

@rts486 But not if she got a job?

Alimony? Do courts still award alimony? I thought that was long gone 30 years ago.
How come I never got alimony? Oh I guess because I never asked for it. Really? they still award alimony?

@wilma Yes, they still award alimony all the time. Why did you think it was gone?

@papayalily I thought that the women’s movement pretty much did away with that kind of thing. No I’m not bashing the women’s movement.
I surely could have used it 25 years ago when I was divorced with two small children and no job. My children and I lived in poverty, their dad lived it up.

@wilma They tried, but there are a LOT of laws and practices that are really discriminatory.

I have known women that paid it too. If someone sacrafices to help the carreer of their partner, for the sake of the family, the person who stayed home rather than cultivate their income making skills needs to be compensated for the sacrafice they made. It’s not discriminatory, it’s fair. If someone works hard waiting tables to put their spouse through med school they are entitled to some of the benefit of their hard work.

@wilma In California a marriage of ten years is automatically open for spousal support, and its pretty much a formula based on each person’s income. It’s why Tom Cruise divorced Nicole Kidman after 9½ years. His career was doing much better at the time and he would have been obligated after ten years to provide support.

@Judi It was created based on the idea that women can’t support themselves outside of marriage. I am for the idea of supporting someone for, say, 5 years while they get a degree and find a job – I’m not for the idea that if you didn’t work (for pay) during the marriage, it’s then ok for them to spend the rest of their life only working at shopping.

Alimony is not gender specific. It is awarded to women for the most part because (1) they are still unable to make as much as their partners when they do work in today’s society, and (2) they are often the ones that don’t work in a partnership.

If men are in a situation where they need alimony, they can be awarded it.

@wilma Your lawyer was a dud.

@YARNLADY I think you are correct.

@papayalily; A job wasn’t a factor.

I know a few guys who are divorced and have to give their ex half of their military or federal government pensions, for the rest of their lives, even though their exs weren’t married to them the whole time. I also know one guy who ran his own business but his ex (married over 10 years) was a federal employee. He tried to get a portion of her pension in the divorce, but the court ruled he wasn’t entitled to it. This was almost 20 years ago so I don’t know if the laws have changed. I haven’t done a scientific survey or anything, but just from the men and women I know who are divorced, the courts are heavily biased towards the women.

I only got divorced in 2005, after 17 years of marriage. For the last nine years of that marriage, I was a stay at home mom, and my husband had a large income. Even though I got a job just before we separated (in preparation for the inevitable), I made only a fraction of what he did. I would have been eligible for alimony due to those factors. I opted not to pursue it since I didn’t need it. The amount of the alimony would have taken my salary into consideration, but the vast difference in our incomes meant he still would have had to pay it.

If the ex recieving alimony gets a job, they will get less alimony. Alimony is based on what the payer makes, minus what the payee makes.

Of course, the payer needs to take the payee to court, so that the lawyers get to make their money, and the courts get to charge court fees.