When you're Jobless and Can't Afford the Alimony

Even though the economy has emerged from the severe recession of 2008, the process has been a slow one. Despite rosy predictions being made by economists and finance experts, the hard reality is that the after-effects of a collapsed economy has continued to make life miserable for thousands of unemployed or underemployed divorced men who simply can’t find work and who still owe high alimony payments. If you too are jobless and burdened with an alimony you cannot afford, here are a few things you can consider.

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File an alimony reduction motion

The first thing to do is to file an alimony reduction motions with the family court where you got your divorce to reduce or even terminate their alimony payments. For this it is best that you hire the services of an experienced lawyer who has an established practice in divorce cases and alimony negotiations in your state. Since judges have considerable discretion in this area of law, it is important that the attorney you hire has significant knowledge and experience on family law in your state.

Try and convince your ex

But again experienced lawyers don’t work for free. If wish to save on an attorney’s costs, you may need to fall back upon your good will with your ex-wife. If you are still on civil terms with her, then you might want to call her up and talk to her to see if she would be willing to accept a lower alimony payment. If you are able to reach an agreement with her, the next step would be to prepare a written agreement that is called a consent order. The consent order will then have to be filed with the family court. The consent order could also provide that alimony could be reviewed again if your income should increase or if you should find a better job. Your ex-wife may be more willing to sign a consent order if this type of provision is inserted into the consent order.

Be regular in your commitments

Even if you can’t afford to make the full alimony payment, at least pay your ex-wife a part of the payment on a regular basis. If  you have a track record of making regular payments to your ex-wife then your odds of winning your motion increase substantially. It is here more than anywhere else, that a history of civil dealings with your ex will come to your help. If you have been reasonable about the divorce settlements in the past and have never defaulted on alimony payments, you have a higher chance of succeeding when you argue your case for alimony reduction before the court. On the other hand, if your divorce was marked by rancor, repeated obstructions on your part and then you missed on alimony payments, you are more likely to come off as difficult, mean and now irresponsible marked by your attempts to wriggle out of your commitment. In such a situation, the court may not take a generous view on your appeal for reduction of alimony whereas they would be much more inclined to grant your motion if you have a history of dealing with your ex-wife in good faith.

Support your motion with concrete proof

No matter how difficult your financial condition, the court will not grant your motion for alimony reduction just because you say you have lost your job.  You must be prepared to support your motion with detailed and exhaustive documentary proof so that your straitened finances are plain for all to see. The exact grounds for granting motion for alimony reduction may differ from state to state – since divorce laws and related matters are state subject – but in general, you are only entitled to a reduction in alimony if there is a major change of circumstance(s). The term “change of circumstance(s) is again a complex legal term and thus subject to a vast array of different legal and factual interpretations. If you have lost your job then you must provide the court with your termination papers. If your paycheck has been reduced, then you must provide documentation that verifies same. If you have suffered health problems, then attach your medical reports to your motion. If you are “up to your eyeballs” in debt, then you should attach your credit card bills, tax debts, car repossession bills and other such documents to support your motion. In summary, in any alimony reduction motion you have to present a picture of genuine financial distress. In this context, it is also crucial that you attach your pay-stubs and tax returns to your motion so that  you can prove to the court that your income is plummeting and you simply cannot afford to pay alimony as before. All this can only be accomplished by creating a detailed appendix as part of your motion.

Make sure to follow up

Upon being convinced of your straitened financial circumstances, a judge may make an order either reducing or suspending spousal support but keep in mind that he or she will probably set the matter for a review in 60 or 90 days with an order that you take certain steps to become re-employed and that you inform your ex when you obtain employment. If you aren't able to obtain employment before the review hearing, you will be required prior to the hearing to provide the Court (and your ex) evidence of your job-search efforts and the results. These could be e-mails and letters that prove that you have been actively looking for work but have been unable to find any. Again the exact modality will vastly depend on the discretion of the judge looking into your alimony reduction motion - Some judges will leave this open and expect that you will make a full-time job out of trying to find a job. Other judges will set out what their expectations are for instance a certain number of resumes to send out, a certain number of phone calls of inquiry, a certain number of applications to complete and so on. It is important to comply with follow up procedures so that your situation comes off as genuine and not merely an attempt to evade your commitments.

Explore other options

A good lawyer will not only help you to buttress your motion for alimony reduction by pointing out your own financial distress but also sniff around to see if there has been any improvement in your ex’s financial condition. Perhaps your ex-wife no longer needs any alimony because she has landed an inheritance, obtained a better job, won a cash award from a lawsuit, or because of any other jump in her income. Or may her Alimony can be terminated based on the grounds of cohabitation and on your retirement. In all these ways, you can certainly hope for relief from hefty alimony payments, provided your grounds for reduction or termination are legitimate and you or your attorney have done the homework.