Alimony is available to either party but neither party is absolutely entitled to receive alimony. The basis for awarding alimony is not to punish a guilty spouse but to continue a duty to support the other.

Beware of formulas!

Judges award alimony based upon all the facts and circumstances of the parties and do not rely upon formulas or rules of thumb. Many of the common formulas that parties hear about have been repudiated by their authors. The factors the court will consider are: the length of the marriage, the causes for the divorce, the age, health, station, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, needs of the parties, and property distribution. Conn. Gen. Stats. § 46b-82. When children are involved, the court will also consider the desirability of the custodial parent's securing employment.

The options for alimony are: (1) none, (2) $1.00 per year, (3) lump-sum alimony or (4) periodic alimony. If the divorce judgment provides for $1.00 per year, that figure give the court the authority to modify the amount in the future, if the legal requirements for modification are met. "Rehabilitative alimony" is transitional support awarded to one of the spouses during a period of education or training necessary to achieve self-sufficiency or make up for time that the spouse has been withdrawn from the workplace.

Because alimony is deductible to the party who pays it, it is a device to shift the tax burden to the spouse who is likely in a lower tax bracket. Alimony is therefore an important divorce financial planning device.

Modifiability

Alimony can also be made non-modifiable as to amount or duration by agreement of the parties. If the agreement or decree contains no prohibition precluding modification, the court will have the ability to to modify in the future based upon a substantial change in circumstances.

Waiver of Alimony

If the parties waive their right to alimony, or if the court's judgment contains no provision for alimony, neither party will be able to go back into court at any time in the future to request that alimony be ordered, even if there is a drastic change in circumstances that was not foreseeable at the time of the divorce. Unless there is some kind of alimony provision, the door will be closed forever.

Effect of Cohabitation on the Payment of Alimony

In DeMaria v. DeMaria, 247 Conn. 715 (Feb. 16, 1999), the Supreme Court (Katz, J.) ruled that a provision to terminate alimony in the event of a recipient's cohabitation must be interpreted in conjunction with the requirements of Conn. Gen. Stats. Section 46b-86(b). The statute allows the court to modify an alimony order on grounds that the recipient is "living with another person" only if the new living arrangement causes a change of circumstances so as to alter the financial needs of that party. The Supreme Court ruled that a trial court must evaluate the financial impact of the living arrangement regardless of the terms of the separation agreement and decree. A party seeking modification upon the ground of cohabitation must therefore plead and prove "altered financial needs."