Does New Jersey Have Permanent Alimony?

Essentially, the purpose of alimony is so that you may have security while transitioning to a life of financial independence post-divorce. Namely, the operative term here is financial independence, meaning that you cannot and should not be dependent on receiving alimony payments forever. With that being said, continue reading to learn whether New Jersey family law offers the option of permanent alimony and how one of the experienced Somerset County alimony lawyers at the Law Offices of Kisha M. Hebbon, LLC can help you receive a fair order.

Does the state of New Jersey offer the option of permanent alimony?

Of note, a reform bill passed in 2014 significantly changed the statutes governing alimony. Specifically, this bill was meant to provide the New Jersey family court clear guidelines for deciding alimony issues in divorce proceedings. As far as permanent alimony went, this option was set to be eliminated unless the couple fell under exceptional situations. For example, couples who have been married for more than 20 years. Also, couples who got divorced before this 2014 reform bill was enforced may have their permanent alimony order remain in effect.

Under what circumstances might I receive open durational alimony?

The 2014 reform bill effectively replaced the concept of permanent alimony with open durational alimony. That is, open durational alimony is a type of alimony order where the New Jersey family court does not define a set end date. Again this is commonly ordered for couples under exceptional situations, such as those who have been married for 20 years or more. But even if a couple has been married for a lesser amount of time, they may fall under other exceptional situations, such as the following:

• The ages of each spouse when they originally got married versus when they filed for divorce.
• The degree of financial dependency one spouse has had on the other throughout their marriage.
• The health statuses of each spouse (i.e., whether one spouse has a chronic illness or unusual medical condition).
• The career opportunities each spouse pursued throughout their marriage (i.e., whether one spouse gave up their career for domestic duties).
• The property received by each spouse from the division of assets in their divorce (i.e., whether one spouse received an unequal share of marital property).

Generally speaking, open durational alimony may end once the paying spouse reaches the full retirement age of 67. However, a paying spouse may have valid grounds to petition this order to end sooner (i.e., their former spouse got remarried). This is while a supported spouse may have reason to petition otherwise (i.e., they have very low income and have not yet reached retirement age themself).

At the end of the day, if you have any lingering doubts about your divorce case, one of the skilled Somerset County family lawyers can help relieve them. So whenever you are ready to start, please reach out to the Law Offices of Kisha M. Hebbon, LLC.