If an ex uses illness to stop working, can she get more alimony?
If an ex uses illness to stop working, can she get more alimony?
Can being debilitated by illness be a reason for a spouse receiving alimony or more alimony than he/she would have received in the absence of the debilitating illness? Of course.
Merely being ill does not mean one will receive or receive more alimony than would have been received in the absence of the illness. Plenty of people have health troubles but hold full-time employment. One’s illness(es) must render one unable to support himself/herself, either fully or partially, before illness will result in more alimony being awarded, and even then, only if the spouse who would be paying alimony has the ability to pay the alimony and still meet his/her living expenses as closely to the standard living/lifestyle to which the parties were accustomed during the marriage.
And merely being able to prove “I am sick” or “I have X disease” won’t presumptively entitle you to alimony or “condition”-related alimony. The disease has to be debilitating despite your best efforts.
If you believe that you can fake an illness to get alimony or more alimony, that’s extremely difficult in today’s world. Amazing ways to verify or refute one’s claims to being disabled have been invented and are only getting more accurate.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277
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