Maryland law has three kinds of alimony. One supports the recipient during the course of divorce litigation, one supports the recipient until they become self-supporting, and one supports the recipient until they die or remarry. If you are going through a divorce and have questions about alimony, whether you are a potential recipient or potential payor, make sure to consult an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer who can guide you through the process and help you achieve a fair outcome.
In recent decades, indefinite alimony has become disfavored in this state. Maryland law now favors awarding spouses rehabilitative alimony (which lasts until the recipient spouse has become self-supporting) over indefinite alimony (which lasts until the recipient spouse dies or remarries). In fact, the courts have said that indefinite alimony “is reserved for exceptional circumstances.” According to the Supreme Court, the “concept of alimony as life-long support enabling the dependent spouse to maintain an accustomed standard of living has largely been superseded by the view that the dependent spouse should be required to become self-supporting, even though that might result in a reduced standard of living.”
A recent divorce case from Charles County examines the requirements for a spouse to receive indefinite alimony.
B.R. and D.R. married in September 1995 and separated in late 2021. The wife filed for divorce in August 2022. During the latter years of the marriage, the wife served as the primary earner, working as a high-powered (and highly compensated) attorney in Washington, D.C. The husband tended to the couple’s numerous investment properties.
After the conclusion of the couple’s divorce trial in August 2023, the trial judge ordered that most of the couple’s properties be sold and the proceeds split equally. The judge also ordered that the wife pay the husband $5,000 per month in indefinite alimony.
The wife appealed that judgment and was successful. In reversing the trial judge’s order, the appeals court made several noteworthy points regarding indefinite alimony in Maryland.
For one thing, Maryland’s statutes guide the awarding of indefinite alimony. Family Law Section 11-106(c) says that a trial court should only award indefinite alimony if (1) the judge finds that the potential recipient’s “age, illness, infirmity, or disability” is such that they “cannot reasonably be expected to make substantial progress toward becoming self-supporting,” or if (2) the potential recipient has achieved the maximum progress toward becoming self-supporting “as can reasonably be expected,” the spouses’ “respective standards of living of the parties will be unconscionably disparate.”
In this couple’s case, the parties agreed that the husband’s age, illness, infirmity, and disabilities were not issues.
No Numerical Figures Automatically Constitute Unconscionability
An analysis of unconscionable disparity requires the trial judge to look into the future “to the point when the requesting spouse will have made maximum financial progress, and compare the relative standards of living of the parties at that future time.” Even “substantial” or “great” disparities are not automatically unconscionable ones.
The law defines “unconscionable,” in this context, as “being so inferior, qualitatively or quantitatively, to the standard of living of the other as to be morally unacceptable and shocking to the court.” The court also pointed out that Maryland law does not have a mathematical figure at which a disparity automatically is (or automatically is not) unconscionable.
In this case, several of the crucial findings necessary for an award of indefinite alimony were missing. The trial court’s judgment did not indicate if the husband had already achieved his maximum level of self-support, how long it would take him to become self-supporting, or what income he would be making when he maximized his ability to support himself. These findings (and others) are essential before a trial court makes the extraordinary step of awarding indefinite alimony.
If you have questions or concerns about alimony, the knowledgeable Maryland family law attorneys at Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC can help. Our team has guided numerous Marylanders through the divorce process, including alimony, and we have the experience to ensure that the outcome you receive is a fair one. Contact us today at 301-519-2801 or use our online form to schedule your consultation.