Ordway Law Group, LLC
Ordway Law Group, LLC
Divorce & Family Law

Rates of wives paying their husbands alimony are increasing fast

On Behalf of | Jun 4, 2018 | Spousal Support |

The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) recently conducted a survey of family law lawyers across the United States.

What its researchers found is that 45 percent of all attorneys polled have seen an uptick in the amount of women having to pay alimony over the past three years. Of those same lawyers surveyed, at least 54 percent of them note that the amount of mothers that have been asked to pay child support has also increased.

The current head of the AAML contends that this increase in women and mothers making spousal support payments is markedly different from the way things were back a few decades ago.

She notes that, back then, the husband was traditionally the person that was making the higher income in the family while the wife was either a stay-at-home mom or was paid far less. This often resulted in the husband having to pay the wife alimony when the couple divorced.

Then there was the 1979 ruling made by the Supreme Court though. They ruled that the awarding of spousal support should be gender-neutral. AAML’s head notes that this and the fact that more women to occupy high-profile jobs nowadays has greatly impacted the spouse that pays alimony.

She notes that nowadays, the numbers of wives pulling in more income than their husbands, which leads them to be designated as breadwinners for their households, is fast increasing. This status gives way to them having to pay their husbands spousal support when they divorce.

If we take into account the data compiled by the Pew Research Center recently, the trend that involves women paying alimony to their husbands is expected to increase. Their research shows that while in 2010, just 3 percent of the nearly 400,000 who received alimony were men, estimates are that the number of males receiving spousal support in the past eight years has steadily increased.

How the implementation of the new Republican-backed tax laws that are set to go into effect in 2019 will impact rates of women paying their ex-husbands alimony is still yet to be seen. Starting next year, spousal support payments will no longer be tax deductible as they have in previous years.

If you’re considering leaving your husband or wife and are the main breadwinner for your home, then you may benefit from consulting with an Atlanta attorney to learn what to expect in your case.

Source: Moneyish, “More women are now paying alimony and child support,” Meera Jagannathan, May 17, 2018

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