Alimony Duration & Exceptional Circumstances

In 2014, the New Jersey statute governing alimony was amended to modify certain provisions.  One of the changes was the alimony duration.  The statute, absent exceptional circumstances, alimony duration may not be longer than the length of the marriage.

In the recent Appellate Division case of B.G. v. E.G, the court found exceptional circumstances, and awarded open-durational alimony in a 14-year marriage where the parties dated for 12 years prior to their marriage. Including both the dating relationship and the marriage, the parties were together for 26 years before filing for divorce. The length of relationship prior to their marriage, coupled with the fact that one of their four children had severe autism, led the appellate court to affirm the trial court’s decision of open-durational alimony. Also, the court affirmed, essentially, an equalization of the parties’ incomes in analyzing the amount of alimony.

Alimony, a very case-sensitive issue, is often one of the more challenging financial issues in a case.

Please contact me at jlawrence@lawlawfirm.com if you have questions about alimony duration or any other family law matter.