Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Why Do Bar Associations Oppose Alimony Reform?


The National Coalition for Men has a article from 2013 on why Bar Associations generally oppose alimony reform.  The answer if of course money.
The Bar’s goal is simple: write family law to maximize judicial discretion in order to maximize litigation. The Bar wants to maximize litigation so that divorce lawyers can charge vast sums to pick the last remaining dollars off the bones of the formerly intact family.
Divorce lawyers bread and butter is litigation. A quick cheap settlement that makes both parties happy is not in their financial interest so they use whatever tactics they can, legal or not, to extend litigation and generate animosity between the parties. It really is that simple.

I have talked to divorce lawyers who have told me they disagree with the stance on alimony the Bar and divorce lawyer associations take but for all practical purposes they are required to be members of those associations. If they speak out too strongly in an attempt to reform their associations's positions, they risk their careers.

I also find it incredible that people who oppose alimony reform simply assume that people paying lifetime alimony were not an equal or primary parent during the marriage, did not have joint custody after the marriage and that the person receiving alimony cannot earn the same amount of income as the person paying. All three of these are not patently not true in my case as was determined by the custody evaluator, employment evaluation and decree.

No comments:

Post a Comment