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Permanent Alimony Defined

Permanent Alimony Defined

Automatic entitlement to family court marriage has been long financially dependent Permanent alimony used to be the only kind of alimony payment.

For centuries, a married woman had limited rights and no way of financially supporting herself. Permanent alimony was necessary for the maintenance of the woman’s standard of living.

If she had caused the divorce, through adultery or any other means, she was usually not entitled to alimony support payments. Usually, though, a man paid permanent alimony payments to his former spouse, whether they had any children together or not.

Permanent alimony was considered to be a lifelong way of making sure that a man’s former wife was taken care of. The length of the marriage was not as important as the reason for its end.

Whether or not a woman was able to support herself was not considered in the way it is now. This was because it was a given that a woman would not be able to support herself.

The jobs available to women paid little. Many women worked for room and board only. Men were expected to feed their families.

Women were usually considered to be property, much like a piece of land or a house. A woman went from being the property of her parents to being the property of her husband. This arrangement existed for centuries.

If a divorce was granted to a couple with no children, the man may have been ordered to return the woman’s dowry and pay her family a set amount of money. This would not be considered permanent alimony today, since the alimony support was granted only once.

A permanent alimony settlement today can usually only be granted if the couple has been married for over ten years. However, in the past, a man would almost always have to provide some sort of alimony support for life, particularly if there were children involved.

Where Alimony Started

Where Alimony Started

Today’s alimony laws are different but derived from the ones that began in the ecclesiastical court in England.

Alimony rights were granted to women when the husband, as the property owner in the relationship, wanted a divorce.

In England, unlike the United States, absolute divorce was not recognized. Even if the husband and wife were granted the right to live apart, they were still recognized as married. Under alimony rights, a woman was entitled to an allowance for the rest of her life.

A woman had alimony rights since her husband was supposed to be the sole provider in a marriage. While a single woman had some rights, a married woman was not allowed to sign a contract or own property.

A woman receiving alimony did not have her single rights restored to her, so alimony laws made it possible for her to survive. In England, laws allowed a woman to be dependent on her husband forever.

A divorce was legally more of a permanent separation. A man was still bound to support his wife.

In America, divorce is recognized as a legal separation that has made both the husband and wife officially single again. However, the United States adopted England’s tradition of sometimes granting lifelong alimony payments.

While alimony laws had previously existed, each state had different laws. For instance, the first alimony suit ever to be officially recorded in Nevada took place in 1868.

The woman who sued for alimony was denied, due to the short notice she gave the court. However, in that case, the term alimony was used to describe the legal fees that accrued from the divorce.

Today’s alimony rights are different. Under alimony laws, some spouses are entitled to financial help from their ex-spouse, usually for a fixed period of time.

There have been many changes in the alimony laws from centuries ago, such that either spouse may be entitled to alimony payments depending on their financial situation.

Alimony Becoming a Requirement

Alimony Becoming a Requirement
Today’s alimony guidelines are very different from before.

A judge will usually grant alimony to one spouse only if it can be proven that one spouse was financially dependent on the other.

However, in the past, paying alimony was required even though alimony law was vague on the subject.

A woman was unable to support herself. She was to tend the home, and the man was supposed to earn enough money to put a roof over his family’s head, clothes on their backs, and food on the table.

Men who did not work or feed their families were often considered failures.

Since alimony guidelines made alimony a requirement, almost every single woman who divorced received alimony, unless she was at fault for the marital problems. However, divorce was rare in those days, so the issue of alimony law almost never came up.

When a couple divorced, men were responsible for paying alimony. During the marriage, women were responsible for making sure that they did nothing that could hold them at fault for the divorce.

Alimony guidelines followed the rule of a man supporting his ex-wife unless she had committed wrongdoing that ended the marriage. Men who did not want to pay alimony would sometimes accuse their wives of.

A man’s word was often believed over a woman’s, so there were times when alimony law would grant a woman nothing if she was accused of adultery.

Alimony guidelines have changed drastically over the years. A man used to be required to pay alimony because of a woman’s inability to support herself. In modern times many women make as much, if not more, money than their husbands.

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