New Jersey Activists Seek to Reform Divorce and Alimony Laws

New Jersey residents who are critical of what they term as “lifetime” alimony wishes to change the state’s guidelines in regards to child support and spousal support.

New Jersey Alimony Reform would like comprehensive reform in the alimony and divorce laws. They have suggested that legislators change the ways in which alimony and child support is determined, along with allowing the payer to adjust payments if they become unemployed, disabled or undergo any other life-changing event.

Currently, a divorce attorney in New Jersey is able to obtain lifetime alimony payments to an estranged spouse if it is necessary to maintain the lifestyle they are accustomed to. Last year, Massachusetts changed alimony laws that would determine the amount of support in proportion to the duration of the marriage and the finances of each spouse. Now the New Jersey Alimony Reform group would like the state to follow Massachusetts model.

The pushers of alimony reform consider it a bastion of a bygone era when women rarely worked outside the home. Since women are as active in the workforce as men, they see alimony payments as unnecessary. What they fail to consider though is that women get paid almost 25 cents less an hour than men, and they turn to divorce lawyers to help the make up the difference in their wages.

Divorce attorneys in New Jersey are critical of proposed reform citing that it would eliminate some of the latitude judges in the state have to determine support payments and final divorce settlements.

The most common type of support awarded in divorce cases is child support. In fact only 25,000 out of 280,000 spouses are awarded alimony. A New Jersey divorce lawyer is able to get this type of support for clients who need it in order to take care of themselves once their marriages have ended.