Articles Posted in Alimony

Courts that are tasked with a fair and equitable property division as part of a divorce proceeding must consider many factors when dividing a marital estate. In marriages where one of the parties maintain a significantly higher earning ability than the other after the divorce, simply dividing the existing marital assets 50/50 may not be fair or equitable. In these situations, Rhode Island courts are entitled to award alimony to the lesser-earning spouse to help equalize the economic outcomes of the parties in the years following the divorce.

Alimony is not automatically awarded to a divorcing spouse as a matter of course. Prior to filing for divorce, a party who desires alimony must ensure the request is included in their divorce filings, or they may forfeit the ability to receive alimony payments. When deciding to award alimony, Rhode Island courts consider several factors. These factors include the duration of the marriage, the current incomes of the parties, the income earning abilities of the parties, the standard of living enjoyed by the parties during the marriage, as well as each party’s contributions to the marriage.

Courts will be more likely to award significant alimony awards if they are persuaded that the receiving party contributed to a marriage of significant duration, and would be unable to maintain the standard of living they enjoyed during the marriage without an alimony award, If the paying party is able to afford alimony payments while not significantly sacrificing their own standard of living, then an award would be fair and appropriate.

After twenty three years together, an East Providence couple decided to separate. Now that they have broken up, a court is trying to determine if they were in a common-law marriage. We tend to think of marriage in black and white terms: either you’re married or you’re not. But it may not be that simple in Rhode Island.

Common-Law Marriage

In most states this would be pretty straightforward, and the court would look to whether there was a marriage license. However, Rhode Island is one of only a few states that recognizes common law marriage. In order to determine whether a common law marriage exists, many people think there is a specific number of years together that must be met. That’s not true. Rather, the court looks all the relevant factors to determine whether there was a “present mutual intent to be married.” In other words, do both parties consider themselves married to one another? Do they live their lives like they are married and hold themselves out to others as a married couple? A Rhode Island family law attorney will be able to explain all the ins and outs of this unique area of family law.

In 1991, the Rhode Island Supreme Court decided two important issues regarding alimony in Rhode Island divorce cases: (1) whether a family court can modify alimony obligations prescribed by a separation agreement, where the agreement has been incorporated by reference but not merged into a final judgment; and (2) whether the alimony under the judgment is modifiable despite the fact that the agreement’s alimony is nonmodifiable.

Plaintiff and Defendant were married in 1959 and decided to divorce in 1985. They agreed on the the distribution of the marital property and on their respective alimony obligations.

The parties obtained a final divorce judgment from the family court in June 1985. In paragraph 6 of the judgment, the family court found the agreement to be fair and equitable. The family court therefore incorporated by reference, but explicitly did not merge, the agreement into the judgment.