The Agony And The Necessity Of Pendente Lite Alimony Hearings

People who got divorced a long time ago often tell you that divorce shows you who your real friends are, but it takes a while for this feeling to bring you comfort. While your divorce is going on, you are too stressed to appreciate anything. You will never forget the friend who Venmoed you $200 within an hour of the bank auto debiting your car insurance payment, thereby sparing you an overdraft, but no sooner did the payment go through, but another crisis arose. Maybe your child said something nice about the person your ex was dating, and this innocent remark ruined your whole night, or maybe your ex told you that he is coming by in an hour with his cousin’s truck to pick up the living room couch and the dining table, leaving you nowhere to sit, eat, or help your kids with their homework. Some people still feel, years after their divorce becomes final, that their ex-spouse ruined them financially, but almost everyone feels that way while their divorce is pending. In this context, it makes sense that the court orders alimony in many more pending divorce cases than it does in divorce cases that it is finalizing. If you are prepared to be financially independent of your spouse once your divorce becomes final, but you need your spouse to contribute to your current expenses while your divorce is pending, contact a Birmingham alimony lawyer.

Is It Worthwhile to Fight About Something Temporary?

Alabama law recognizes several types of alimony awards, but the most common is pendente lite, sometimes called temporary alimony. Calling pendente lite alimony temporary alimony is misleading, because the vast majority of alimony arrangements have a pre-set end date. What makes pendente lite alimony different from other types of alimony is that it only lasts as long as the divorce proceedings do and automatically expires when the court finalizes your divorce; pendente lite is a Latin phrase that means, “while the legal case is pending.”

Most pendente lite recipients are people whose income is far lower than their spouses’. When the high-income spouse moved out, he left the lower income spouse paying the home mortgage, utilities, and other bills that the family always needed two incomes to pay. Your spouse might tell you that, since you wanted to separate, since you kicked him out of the house, the bills are your problem, but from a legal perspective, this is not true. Marital financial obligations remain marital until the court formally separates them by finalizing the divorce. Unless your friends have enough resources to keep floating you money every month until your divorce becomes final, it is worthwhile to go to court over pendente lite alimony.

Contact Peeples Law About Pendente Lite Alimony

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you petition the court to order or enforce pendente lite alimony while your divorce case is pending.  Contact Peeples Law in Birmingham, Alabama today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

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