I need to pull my husband's divorce paperwork...but off the top of my head it reads along these lines: $xxxx per month to ex-wife for 5 years. Then down to $xxxx per month for perpetuity. He also gave her the house (mortgage is in his name, but he quit-claimed the deed to her) with appx $300k equity (yes, even in this r.e. market it has that much equity). And he also has to have a $250k life insurance policy just in case he dies with her as the sole beneficiary. I don't know if they included the verbiage "modifiable." So I am thinking that this spousal support is set in stone. Am I correct? While it is completely over the top in terms of his income and what he pays her, she has come back to him a couple of times stating that she doesn't think she's getting enough! (Between her disability income and spousal support, she brings in around $3600-3800/month...not bad for someone who isn't working, in my opinion). Can she try and take him to court? It never went in front of a judge. They filed a consent decree. Many thanks for any feedback you can give.
If it doesnt say that its not modifible, then it is or at least she could argue that. If she waits until after it "expires" then she will have a hard time getting it reinstated. It would have to go to court and go before a judge.
If they signed a consent decree and the judge signed it, then its a binding legal document.
How many more years does he have to pay? Why is she saying its not enough?
He has to pay for as long as she lives. $2500 for five years and then $2000 a month for the remainder of her life. There are a couple reasons why I think she's saying it's not enough. 1) She's scared. Her disability will end this Fall. BUT she will have state retirement kicking in, so she will be getting almost the same amount of money AND she could go back to work if she wanted. (In fact, when she was still married to my husband, she led him to believe that she wanted and intended to go back to work when her disability ran out...there was never any discussion of her staying home after that time). 2) She's ticked off that in this market, her home no longer has the equity it previously had. Instead of about $300k equity, it apparently has about $150k if she sold today. (However, the support does cover the mortgage and she could ride out this horrible r.e. market. She is not in the position of being forced to sell). 3) She's made some bone-headed financial decisions as of late...like buying a new car and giving her perfectly good (and fairly new) car to her daughter, saying her daughter would make the payments. Only her daughter hasn't made a single payment. So now she has two car payments.
She just called again the other day and said she's going to see an attorney about modifying the support. So we'll see where things go from here...
Spousal support is modifiable unless the decree specifically names it as non-modifiable ( even then it's still modifiable under dire enough circumstances ) . Either party can request a modification by showing a continuing and substantial change in circumstances .
-------------------- Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. Isaac Asimov
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