Considerations of Prior Marriage Improper for Alimony Award
by
Joseph C. Maya on May. 05, 2017
Divorce & Family Law Divorce & Family Law Divorce Lawsuit & Dispute Lawsuit
Summary: Blog post about how a parties' divorce and alimony agreement should not take into consideration that the parties had been married to each other once before.
If you have questions about divorce, legal separation, alimony pendente lite, or alimony in Connecticut, please feel free to call the experienced divorce attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. in Westport today at 203-221-3100 or email Joseph C. Maya, Esq. at JMaya@Mayalaw.com.
The Connecticut Supreme Court found that the trial court improperly relied on total length of a parties’ relationship in calculating its alimony and property distribution awards.
The parties were initially married from 1981 to 1992, with three children born during that marriage. Within a year of the 1992 divorce, the parties resumed cohabiting. In 1998, the parties were remarried. A subsequent judgment for dissolution was rendered in 2004. The parties’ grandchildren were living with the plaintiff wife at the time of the second divorce. Plaintiff brought forth evidence of the extended relationship between the parties’ including property acquired during the first marriage and subsequent cohabitation. The defendant was ordered to pay $272 a week in child support, $600 a week in alimony, and his elder daughter’s nursing school tuition.
Under Connecticut General Statute 46b-81 and 46b-82, the length of a parties’ prior marriage of period of cohabitation between first and second marriages does not legally factor into the legal criterion of a marriage’s length. In addition, the reliance on grandchildren in considerations of alimony was also legally impermissible. By law, support orders regularly apply only for minor children, and alimony is only for support of a former spouse, not a minor child or adult. In light of these several errors, the decision of the trial court was reversed.
For a free consultation, please do not hesitate to call the experienced family law and divorce attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. in Westport, CT at 203-221-3100. We may also be reached for inquiries by email at JMaya@mayalaw.com.
Source: Loughlin v. Loughlin, 910 A.2d 963, (Conn. 2006)
