Iowa court authorizes other child support payments to ease transition to single life

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday officially recognized alimony as a new type of support to consider in divorce cases, joining several other states in accepting the practice.

The Iowa court’s decision came in the case of a Dubuque doctor who was appealing an Iowa Court of Appeals decision that awarded his ex-wife $1.2 million in child support over 12 years. The Supreme Court ruled that factors in marriage underpinned the need for an alternative to traditional alimony.

The court said interim alimony could address an inequality not addressed by the other recognized categories of support.

“Divorcing spouses have to adjust to being single. If one is better equipped to make this adjustment and the other is facing hardships, transitional maintenance can be granted to compensate for this inequality and close the gap,” the court wrote. “We now officially recognize transitional alimony as another tool to create justice.”

The new type of ex-spousal support can be considered in combination with previous types of maintenance when one spouse’s education or training needs to become self-employed are significantly out of balance with those of the other.

The current three types of alimony are rehabilitation benefits that support a spouse who has retired to look after children or otherwise provide household chores to help them return to work to help; reimbursement, which relates to the economic sacrifices made by one spouse during the marriage that directly improve the other’s future earning capacity; and traditional, which is paid for life or for as long as a dependent spouse is unable to support themselves.

Several other states are already considering transitional alimony, including Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Tennessee.

The Iowa court, at the request of Dr. Suraj Pazhoor a temporary alimony. The Supreme Court found his ex-wife Hancy Chennikkara was awarded too much for too long. It states that while alimony is not required in this case, judges should henceforth balance justice when awarding alimony to “bridge the gap” from married to single life.

It said the factors in Pazhoor and Chennikkara’s marriage support a modified traditional alimony and rehabilitation alimony of $714,000 over seven years. The court said Hancy Chennikkara would have enough time to pursue a master’s degree to improve her earning potential while working part-time and taking care of her children’s physical needs.