In this special edition of The Best of Johnston County Podcast, we dive into the complex world of alimony and spousal support. We discuss what it is, how it's determined, and who qualifies. If you're dealing with a divorce or simply want to understand family law better, this episode is filled with valuable insights from an expert perspective. 

Tune in for practical advice and information that can help you navigate this often confusing topic. Don't miss this informative discussion – listen now!

Jonathan Breeden: Alimony is not required in a divorce. You are only eligible for alimony if you are considered a dependent spouse. And a dependent spouse is some spouse that cannot pay their reasonable bills with their income.

And so, if your income and if you're receiving any child support does not cover what you believe or what ultimately a judge believes are your reasonable bills, then you were considered a dependent spouse. But in order to receive alimony in a divorce, you also have to have a supporting spouse. So the other spouse has to have money left over after they pay their reasonable bills. And their child support to you, if they owe child support.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnson County Podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden. And today, we're going to have a special episode of The Best of Johnson County Podcast that we like to call, Ask Jonathan Breeden Anything.

And in this, episode, we're going to have our social media coordinator, Raena Burch, ask me varying family law questions as it relates to alimony, and spousal support. And I'm going to do my best to answer those questions.

Normally on this podcast, Jonathan Breeden, I interview interesting guests from the community, from small business owners to community leaders. And we do those most of the time. And then we have these special edition episodes that we call Ask Jonathan Breeden Anything.

The Best of Johnson County podcast comes out every Monday. So check back every Monday for new and exciting guests. And if this is your first time listen to this podcast, go back and listen to some of our previous podcast with County Commissioner Patrick Harris, County Parks and Rec Director Adrian O'Neal, local Dentist Tim Sims, local Financial Advisor Chris Key, Miss Teen America Hanley House, and many other great guests that have been on over the previous episodes.

And I think, you'll learn a lot about Johnson County and why they love Johnson County as much as we do. Are you ready, Raena?

Raena Burch: I'm ready. Are you ready?

Jonathan Breeden: Alright, here we go.

Raena Burch: Okay. Let's do it.

First one, is alimony required in a divorce?

The trick Raena is, what is a reasonable bill? And what you believe to be a reasonable bill, and what I believe to be a reasonable bill may not be what a judge believes to be a reasonable bill.

My lifestyle in a divorce doesn't change or by law, it can't be made to change. That's not true because there's not enough money to go around most of the time. And the overwhelming majority of people that go through divorce are going to have a lifestyle change.

Yes, we do see them. We do Alabama to bring law office every day. We do those cases every day, but it is not nearly as common as people who coming in here thinking that they're eligible for it that actually end up being eligible because you don't have both. We have a lot of dependent spouses, but we don't have as many supporting spouses as we have dependent spouses.

Jonathan Breeden: Correct. And one thing I think a lot of people mistaken, particularly if you're the dependent spouse is, that supporting spouse gets to pay rent, that supporting spouse gets a car payment, that supporting spouse gets food, that supporting spouse gets to pay a water bill, the supporting spouse gets to pay all their reasonable bills before they have anything left over. that can be expensive when rent around here is $1,500.

And so, I think they come here and say, well, I don't make very much money or I've been staying home and he's going to give me 4 or $5,000 a month. Um, And that may not be the case because he's going to have his own reasonable bills that can easily be 3 or $4,000 a month.

Raena Burch: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: And they don't have to live on somebody's couch. They get to have their own reasonable bills to take care of themselves before court is going to order them to pay you extra money over and above child support

Raena Burch: And I think, a lot of people are under the misconception that the only time you will get alimony is if you don't have a job and you're completely and utterly dependent on. like, that's, That's not the case either.

You can also have a job, it's just a disparaging difference in income.

Jonathan Breeden: Correct.

Raena Burch: Okay, two, we just covered that, how is alimony determined? Like you said. They just take all the bills into account and whatever, if there's anything left over.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And so basically, if, the case is going to court, if you can't settle it, each side would file a financial affidavit and they would list all of the bills they had prior to the date of separation and all of their current bills.

And maybe your income is after taxes and child support is about 3,000 or 3,500. So, you're short about a thousand dollars. You know, The supporting spouse is going to do the same thing. And he's going to put down his bills, including, let's say he's paying a thousand dollars in child support, and his $1,500 in rent, and his bills are going to add up 4,000, $4,500.

The question is, if that supporting spouse only nets $4,500, which is what you would net if you're making about 70 or $75,000 gross after you pay taxes, then he doesn't have anything left to pay over to the dependent spouse. And that's where it starts to get real tight. It costs about 60-65% more to live apart, then together.

Raena Burch: All right. Three, are there any rules or laws regarding how long a party has to pay alimony if they are ruled paid?

Jonathan Breeden: Not in North Carolina, North Carolina No. says that is in the discretion of the district court judge in making the ruling. There are things that the court should consider in determining the amount of the child of the alimony and the length.

They're not really supposed to, but they do. and you know,

if, you're getting a million dollars out of my 401k Raena, they have to consider that. And how long you're going to get alimony from me if I'm ordered to pay you alimony. They also look at marital fault in determining the length, the length of time for alimony. Did somebody cheat? Were they abusive? Did they commit other acts of mental misconduct?

Now, of course, if you are a dependent spouse and you had an extramarital affair, then you cannot collect alimony by rule. So, if you had a, sexual relationship with somebody that was not in your marriage while you were married before you were separated, that is an absolute bar to alimony if you're a dependent spouse.

Raena Burch: Okay. So, is there anything else that disqualifies you for allowing?

Jonathan Breeden: If you are living with or marry somebody else. So, If you are a dependent spouse and you start living with a significant other, whether it be a boyfriend or girlfriend, and y'all are in a committed relationship and you're sharing bills, you don't get alimony.

And if you remarry, you then don't get alimony because it is to support the now single dependent spouse. But at the point you start living with somebody, or you start, you marry somebody else, you're no longer single, and that unit needs to support you, not the former husband or former spouse.

Raena Burch: Okay, but it has to be obviously a significant other, we're not talking like a roommate situation.

No,

Raena Burch: Yeah. So, it's not roommate or family. It's you know, another committed, significant other.

Jonathan Breeden: Correct.

Raena Burch: Got it. How long do you have to be married to qualify for alimony?

Jonathan Breeden: One day. The statute does not have a minimum.

Raena Burch: Oh wow.

Jonathan Breeden: The statute doesn't have a maximum. The statute, there's no chart. Some States have alimony charts that say, this many years, this much income you pay this much.

They actually have a go by chart. That's not binding that the judges sort of follow in Orange County around Chapel Hill in North Carolina, but we don't have that anywhere else. is something that is can be awarded to any spouse based on the length of the marriage. And a marriage can be one day.

The overwhelming majority of Americans who divorce remarried within 5 years. So, even if you see an alimony award of 10 or 15 or 20 years, it is rarely paid because the vast majority of Americans get remarried within 5 years.

Americans like to be married. They like to be in relationships. They like to move on with their lives. It's financially beneficial to be in a committed relationship. A lot more beneficial to have partner that you're sharing all the bills with, who has a job versus this little bit of alimony you may be getting. You should be thinking about that when people are like, Oh, they want 10 years of alimony. I'm like, but yeah, I tell my class, like, but what are the odds? They're not going to remarry within that 10 years, right?

Raena Burch: It really isn't one parent is taking on more responsibility, right?

Jonathan Breeden: Right. It really is in the discretion of the court. And the court of appeals is rare to overturn an alimony award.

So really, you need to have good lawyers that are advocating for you. You need to have your, finances in order. Your financial affidavit needs to be the exact as possible. It doesn't need to be guesses. You know, You need to have documents to back up your financial affidavit as to what these bills are. and you know, you need to have a good lawyer that's prepared that they knows the judge they're going in front of. In an attempt to either get you as much alimony as possible, or limit the amount of alimony you have to pay.

But in our case with the Breeden Law Office, the majority of alimony cases are settled outside of court.

We seem to be able to work most of them out with the other attorneys because everybody, you just don't know. You go to court. It could be anything. You really don't have any idea, but if you settle, it's a lot cheaper and you have control of the outcome.

Correct.

Jonathan Breeden: Or even a consent order or even

a consent order. And alimony, a Raena is not, permanent, right? Like It gets awarded, but if, circumstances change, if you have a court order, you can go back and modify it. You have a separation agreement, maybe not. But if a court order, you can go back and modify it with change of circumstances, just like you could modify a child support order based on change of circumstances. Your income goes down, substantially. The other sides that supporting spouses income goes up, substantially. you know, Anything that changes, you know, how dependent the dependent spouse is, or how if the supporting spouse can still support that suspended spouse allows you to go back to court and have the court refigure it, as well.

Raena Burch: Yeah. So It's adjustable, depending on the current circumstances, not the past circumstances. Correct. It's It's just better for everybody.

Jonathan Breeden: Correct. Unless it's in a separation agreement. And that's the same reason we talked about on a previous episode, why you don't want child support and separation agreement because that's held to the four corners of the document.

Raena Burch: Okay.

Have family law questions? Need guidance to navigate legal challenges? The compassionate team at Breeden Law Office is here to help. Visit us at www. breedenfirm. com for practical advice, resources, or to book a consultation. Remember, when life gets messy, you don't have to face it alone.

Raena Burch: So, how does someone file for alimony? Is it in the same, cause I know there's different courts for the different pieces of divorce. Right. Okay. So Like child custody court, there's child support court, There's like, and those are all different.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. They're all part of district court in North Carolina. So all the family law statutes, alimony, child custody, child support, divorce, equitable distribution of property is all covered by the district courts in North Carolina.

So you have to file it with the courthouse, with the clerk in the district court level and get a file number. And then, if you can't reach an agreement, you have to then schedule it for a trial in front of a district court judge, where you would go and present your financial affidavit, your bills, tell your story of where you're at, how you got here, what you've earned, the history of what you've earned, your educational background, what you believe you're going to be able to earn, the jobs you've looked for, the hours you're working. Each side go and tell that story to a district court judge, and then a district court judge will make a decision as to whether alimony should be awarded or not.

But it's the same type of hearing. It's just shorter and more limited to the financial evidence. If you don't get into the fault quite as much unless somebody had an affair. And it's a quicker hearing. It's a hearing that in Johnson County can happen within 4-6 weeks of separation. In Wake County, it's more like 3-4 months of separation. And you can start getting money quicker. And you often do it at the same time as you would do temporary child support. But you have to file for it at the courthouse in the district court and have a hearing with district court judge. If you can't agree, and if you do agree, you can do a consent order that you present to a district court judge and have the district court judge sign it.

Now in North Carolina, you can't get divorced until you've been separated for a year and a day.

And then, that process takes about

Jonathan Breeden: 8

weeks. So, it's really about 14 months from when you separate to when you're actually divorced in North Carolina, if you do it as soon as you can. So, you have to bring the action in that 14 months for support or it's lost.

Okay. And is there such a thing as permanent alimony?

There is.

And a permanent alimony award would be an alimony award that would last until the death of the dependent spouse or the debt of the death of the supporting spouse. So, alimony ends at the death of either spouse. And a permanent alimony award orders that the supporting spouse pay the dependent spouse until one of them dies.

I have not seen one, but one time in my career that's come through the breed law office, I know they're still out there, but they are extremely rare now. And I would think to see that. There would have to be a lot of money involved to where there are assets that are spinning off income every month, because that supporting spouse gets to retire too.

That's about the only way you would see a permanent alimony award now. And that would be, I'm sure, after some 30, 35, 40 year marriage you know, where it's just not where the supporting spouse is going to be able to go back in the workforce and really earn a whole lot. They're probably in their 60s maybe even in their early 70s, if you're going to see a permanent alimony reward, just in my opinion now.

So anyway, right,

right, right. So Anyway, but the unwritten rule, half the length of the marriage, that's what we see more than anything else. But unfortunately, particularly here in the last 3 or 4 years with inflation, we're seeing fewer and fewer post separation support alimony awards, because the cost of living has gone up so high that the supportings, there's just not as many supporting spouses as there used to be given what it costs to live now in this area.

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Until next time. I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden.

That's the end of today's episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.