Answer:

I had a consultation last week where the client came in and asked, “Am I automatically entitled to alimony from my husband?” The answer to that is no. You’re not automatically entitled to alimony under Georgia law. Georgia law does provide for alimony rewards, however, where the circumstances are right, such as cases where you have a longer marriage or disparities of income (one party is making a lot more than the other party.) If you have a circumstance where maybe it’s a physician married to a stay-at-home mom and that’s a decision that the parties made years ago and that kept one person from being able to enter the workforce and make some money, the one party has a large need for the alimony and the other party has a great ability to pay it. Then the court will consider alimony. There is no automatic entitlement or formula under Georgia law for the establishment of alimony or spousal support. If you have questions about your need or your divorce case where you believe that you are eligible and you need alimony to financially remain stable even after the divorce is completed, please give us a call so that we can actually sit down with you, look at your budget, look at the other party’s income, and determine what a court may do in an alimony request in your divorce case.