Articles Posted in Alimony

Last month, this blog discussed how Maryland law generally favors the award of rehabilitative alimony over indefinite alimony. Although the law favors rehabilitative alimony, that does not mean it is necessarily the proper remedy, as a new alimony case from Baltimore County highlights. As with all issues related to alimony and divorce, the law is complex and nuanced. That is why, if you have questions about alimony, you should consult a knowledgeable Maryland divorce lawyer to discuss your situation.

The spouses in the Baltimore County case separated in 2022 after 39 years of marriage. At the time of the couple’s divorce, both spouses were in their mid-60s. The husband worked as an operations manager overseeing an apartment complex, but desired to retire “within the next two years.”

The wife also worked during most of the marriage, but stopped in 2020 when she went on disability leave. The wife suffered from multiple maladies that affected her ability to use her hands and to sit or stand for long periods of time.

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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as life-long support enabling the dependent spouse to maintain an accustomed standard of living has largely been superseded by the view that the dependent spouse should be required to become self-supporting, even though that might result in a reduced standard of living.”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.

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Alimony (spousal support) is an integral part of many divorces. Unless the spouses resolve the issue of alimony on their own (such as including a provision in a marital settlement agreement that neither will receive alimony, a court will decide if either spouse should receive alimony and, if so, which spouse, how much, and for how long. Judges make these determinations based on several statutory factors, one of which is the length of the couple’s marriage. Duration is just one of nearly a dozen factors, however. To understand more about alimony and your divorce, you should get in touch with an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer.

When it comes to marital duration and alimony, the short version is: the longer the marriage, the greater the likelihood of an alimony award. If yours was a decades-long marriage, the greater the possibility that some form of alimony is appropriate.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is the celebrity divorce of retired basketball star Dwight Howard and reality TV star Amy Luciani. The pair became engaged in December 2024, married in January 2025, and then went their separate ways less than six months later. (The wife filed for divorce on July 1.)

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An old saying (often misattributed to the poet Oscar Wilde) warns of the many dangers that can befall you if you assume something to be true. That nugget of knowledge definitely applies in family law. Making assumptions can be the pathway to a legal outcome that is much more harmful to your interests than you intended. Rather than relying on your own assumptions, you are better off talking to an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer, who can help you make certain your rights and your interests are protected in your family law case.

If you go online, you will find that the Maryland Judiciary helpfully offers several pleading forms on its website. The form for answering a complaint is a template-style document that allows the user to admit or deny the allegations the opposing party has asserted in their complaint. At the end, the answer enables you to say that you want the judge to “Dismiss [or] Deny the complaint”, to “Grant the relief requested in the complaint,” or to deny some things and grant certain others.

It is essential to understand that choosing to simply go online, select a form template, and file a court pleading without hiring a lawyer can have serious negative consequences. The court generally will hold you to what you included in your document, even if you did not fully understand the impact of what you were doing. If you have any uncertainty or lack of clarity about what is taking place or what the legal consequences of your document are, you definitely should consult an attorney.

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Alimony is an important aspect of many divorce cases. In almost all divorces, one spouse earns more than the other, creating the possibility (if not likelihood) of disparate standards of living post-divorce without alimony. If you are involved in a divorce where alimony is an issue, it is essential to recognize that the law in this state sets up some clear guideposts for when (and what kind of) alimony is appropriate. To ensure you walk away from your divorce with a just and reasonable outcome, be sure to retain representation from an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer.

The Maryland Appellate Court recently looked at the divorce and alimony case of a Gaithersburg couple. This case offers valuable lessons and reminders about the legal rules governing the types of alimony available in Maryland.

To set the background, the husband was an engineer at Microsoft, earning nearly $300,000 per year. The wife had risen from a fitness club lifeguard to working as a graphic designer and video editor, earning almost $90,000 per year before her job ended in early 2024. (He said she quit; she said the employer laid her off.)

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As a spouse going through a divorce in Maryland, you may face many challenges, including concerning alimony and a monetary award. This challenge can become particularly complicated if your spouse is the owner of a small business, especially one that pays for a substantial chunk of his/her personal expenses. Whatever challenges you’re facing in your divorce, you can enhance your odds of getting a fair and appropriate alimony award by retaining an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer.

Skilled counsel can help you persuade the court to look at more than just your spouse’s W2 income when it comes to setting an alimony amount. Take, for example, this recent divorce case from Montgomery County.

The wife filed for divorce in 2021. At trial, the wife asked the court to award her alimony, so the court made findings regarding the spouses’ earning capacity and income.

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One of the essential components of many divorce actions is contesting alimony. The differences between temporary alimony versus rehabilitative alimony versus indefinite alimony can be enormous, having a massive impact on both the recipient spouse and the supporting spouse. If you’re facing a dispute over alimony in your divorce case, the stakes are much too great to proceed with representation from a skilled Maryland divorce attorney.

One of the situations in which a recipient spouse can succeed in obtaining indefinite alimony is when he/she sufficiently demonstrates to the court that the difference between his/her post-divorce financial situation and that of the supporting spouse is “unconscionable” under the law.

A divorce case from Harford County represents one circumstance where unconscionability potentially existed.

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