The end of a marriage is – as anyone who has ever been through it knows – rarely the end of a marriage.
Often, children have to be cared for and raised together, property has to be divided or sold, friendships have to be renegotiated and, in a few couples, maintenance payments also have to be taken into account.
Judges are not required to award alimony, commonly referred to as spousal support, but when they do, they often consider the financial situation of the lower-earning spouse, the amount of time the recipient needs for education or job training, the couple's standard of living during the marriage, and the length of the marriage.
Although it is not common, some judges award permanent alimony that does not end until one spouse dies or the recipient remarries.
If a similar bill passes the Minnesota state legislature this year, judges may have to grapple with a more delicate reality: cohabitation.
In other words: If it is proven that the maintenance recipient is living with another partner, why should the ex have to continue paying maintenance?
“We're not advocating putting people on the street,” said the bill's author, Republican Rep. Peggy Scott of Andover. “But that has hurt a lot of people for many, many years.”
Scott recently heard from a constituent who pays child support “who lives in a one-bedroom apartment with no savings. His wife quit her job and is living with another man.”
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