Married couples living in Princeton, New Jersey may not know about the current state of affairs in an important segment of the divorce process. They should be though as it could affect them if their marriage was to ever end.

Reforms to alimony in the state may create serious changes some time soon. As one of the major parts of family law, spousal support is important and, if one advocacy group has its way, it could mean that the current system will never be the same again.

The advocacy group, known as New Jersey Alimony Reform, is headed up by a professor at Rutgers University. He became divorced in 2008. His former wife was a psychologist with a doctoral degree and was very successful. Due to this fact, he assumed that divorce would bring child support, not alimony.

He was wrong. The child support would end but the alimony will last a lifetime.

This is because of the current statutes in the state of New Jersey. As things stand, a presiding judge has the ability to award lifetime alimony in any case where one spouse brings home more income than the other. Lifetime alimony can cause payers a large amount of financial difficulty while recipients — who may work full-time already — continue accumulating the payments which may not even be necessary for them to maintain the lifestyle they had during the marriage.

In the worst case scenario, the current laws allow for deadbeat husbands and wives to continue their behaviors while being supported by an ex-spouse who they have not seen in years.

State legislators have made attempts to begin this process. Commissions will likely be created soon to better understand the potential need for change.

Source: North Jersey, “Opinion: Fix New Jersey’s alimony rules,” Tom Leustek, Jan. 26, 2012