-A married couple divorce and go their separate ways. He remarries and his ex moves on. 25 years later his ex-wife falls on hard times and rather than go on welfare she sues her ex-husband for alimony and wins. He now has to pay her every month for life.
-A married couple divorce after four and a half years. They have three kids. Both the husband and wife work. The husband pays child support till all the kids are grown and out of the house. Now 23 years later he’s still paying his ex-wife alimony for a marriage that didn’t last 5 years.
Welcome to Massachusetts where these cases are real, and there are dozens more like them. A state with laws that many argue are unfair, outdated, but have not been changed in years. This is a State where you can be awarded alimony for life.
Lawmakers many of which are attorneys haven’t been tripping over themselves to change these laws since those people going through divorces will spend thousands in legal fees to fight. Now a grass roots effort is underway to change the laws and limit the amount of alimony paid to a maximum of 12 years.
Should the spouse making more have to pay the other alimony for life, or should these laws be changed immediately?
Tell us what you think and we’ll talk about it today at 5pm on WBZ News. And watch the full report Tuesday night at 11pm.
