Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Alimony Misinformation

Sometime I get a little irritated when I see statements made without any factual basis. For example, Adinolfi Lieberman P.A. lawyer Kimberly Packman states
Ninety-seven percent of the time, it is women who seek and receive alimony after a divorce.  Women typically invest more time and energy into maintaining a household, forgoing career development. Without spousal support after divorce, the economically weaker spouse could be left destitute while the other partner walks away without any financial obligation.
The part about women seeking and receiving alimony 97% of the time is true but stating that women typically invest more time and energy into maintaining a household is at best misleading. You could just as well state that men do most the work maintaining a household because they typically do the yard work, shovel the snow, take care of the cars, take care of the finances, pay the bills, take care of the dog and coach the kids' teams. The point is that there is no evidence that women put more time and energy into maintaining a household.


In my case, I was clearly the person doing most of work maintaining the household including most of the stereotypical female tasks. On top of that, I paid much of Spring's way through college and helped her start several businesses that she later lost interest in. Yet, somehow I am the one paying alimony, and am ordered to pay it until death. This despite the fact that an employment evaluation stated Spring could make just as much money as me and the custody evaluate ruled that parenting during the marriage was joint. Not to mention that custody post-divorce was joint yet Spring does virtually nothing for the kids.

The misinformation out there is just incredible. And sorry to say this Ms, Packman, but it is simply unethical for a lawyer who financially benefits from an unjust system to make unsubstantiated statements that encourage injustice and excessive litigation.

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