My husband has been ordered to appear in court on July 6. His ex wife remarried in Feb 08 and we had a contractual agreement for alimony (we did not know it was contractual - we thought if she ever remarried it would terminate). The papers say that an order was entered by the court on July 14, 2006 for the defendent to pay churrent child support in the amount of 1030 a month and alimony in the amount of 570 per month. Since one child has become of age and graduated we motioned for reduction. Now the ex wnats her alimony. With the job loss of my husband due to the economy we do not make enough to pay this. Isn’t this a contractual agreement? And isn’t it handled differently than if it was ordered by a judge? We really need help. We cannot afford to keep paying for her attorney fees, and for trips back and forth to Greensboro from Florida. Is there a time limit on contractual agreements.
If alimony is contained in a contract it is not modifiable, and alimony will last through the end date listed in the contract. If the ex has instituted a breach of contract action, impossibility is a defense.
Alimony which is contained in a court order is modifiable when the movant can prove there has been a substantial change in circumstances. Based on what you have said it seems that the alimony is contained in an order (if it is in the same document as the child support which you had to return to court to terminate, it is a court order).
When the ex went to DSS to have the alimony and child support taken out of my husbands paycheck the court separated the two of the issues because she had remarried. Our child support has stayed paid, the alimony is not being paid. My husband lost his job with the insurance benefits and it has not been easy to replace his job with one as good considering all the cut backs that come along with this “wonderful” economy. He DOES work, he went from 4000 a month to 1733, he pays his child support of 1030 per month and I support him and my son.
But - I am not sure if the alimony is court ordered or an agreement. Does your law firm do things like just look over the paperwork and help us understand what is actually in the paper for a cost that is less than going to court with us. Funds are not something that we have a lot of, but on the other hand if we don’t know what we are doing - we will probably come out behind AGAIN. We trusted her and her lawyer when the papers were done and my husband agreed to all she asked for, not understanding the difference between contractual and court ordered where if she remarried we thought it ended.
You can schedule a consultation with one of our attorneys to determine what type of document outlines the alimony and discuss what the proper steps are to move forward. Please contact our client liaison to schedule a consultation, she can be reached by dialing the main number for either office at extension 100.