Alimony Reform Recommendations

UPDATE: There is pending legislation for major changes to the alimony statute in Massachusetts. The Alimony Reform Act of 2011 was filed on January 18, 2011 and you can learn more about the Act at MassAlimonyFormula.com or in our recent blog post highlighting the differences between the bill and the current law.

The Boston Bar Association has unanimously voted to endorse the Report of the Joint MBA/BBA Alimony Task Force: Alimony or Spousal Support Guidelines where there are no Dependent Children.

The Report recommends an alimony cap based on a formula. It also recommends durational limits on alimony and lists specific instances where the recommendations would not apply, such as cases where the recipient is so disabled as to become a ward of the state.

The Report also allows for deviation based on certain factors, which include cohabitation.

As indicated in a previous Alimony debate post, this is the type of reform that we believe would be an improvement over the current state of alimony in Massachusetts (especially as compared to the currently proposed reforms in the Senate and House bills).

If you have an opinion on which solution is best, vote here.

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