Alienation of Affection: The Spurned Spouse

A spurned spouse in Mississippi was recently awarded $750,000 under the theory that a rich business man committed alienation of affection by luring the wife into an affair with him. Mississippi is only one of 7 states that still recognize the theory whereby people claim someone stole their wife or husband. The claim is rooted in the antiquated notion that a woman is her husband's property.

Most states, including Iowa, have abolished alienation of affection as a basis for lawsuits.

While there was no mention whether the wife divorced the husband, the article did state that the wife "chose" the rich paramour over her plumber husband. Good thing the paramour, who is worth $22 million, has money. He has a hefty judgment to pay. And pay for his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. For the entire article see http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFkg05PN361reUpYAF9hGHIWeiXw

A Lousy Marriage Might Make you Sick

A lousy marriage might literally make you sick.

The Family Law Prof Blog recently posted an article on this topic.


The article reports that marital strife and other bad personal relationships can raise your risk for heart disease, researchers reported Monday. Stress, a well-known contributor to health problems, appears to be the culprit.


The study, in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, follows previous research that has linked health problems with being single and having few close relationships. In the new study, researchers focused more on the quality of marriage and other important relationships.



While divorce can also be stressful, could it be a cure?

Is This All I Get? Alimony-When You are Entitled

During divorce proceedings about half my clients ask whether they or their spouse is entitled to alimony. The answer is always "it depends."

After the equitable distribution of the marital estate the court will look at the whole spectrum of property available to both spouses—the marital property divided as well as the non-marital property under each spouse’s control. If one party is left with a deficit, then a court is to consider awarding alimony. In Iowa three types of alimony are recognized-periodic, rehabilitative, and reimbursement.

Periodic alimony is a monthly payment which terminates automatically upon the death of the person paying or the death or remarriage of the receiver. It can be modified if there is a material change in circumstances—either by increasing, decreasing, or terminating it. Finally, it is taxable to the recipient and deductible by the payor.

Rehabilitative alimony is typically awarded to parties who have put their career on hold while taking care of the marital home. It is meant to rehabilitate the individual into a job and become self-supporting.

Reimbursement alimony is intended as repayment to a spouse who put their partner through school where the financial rewards of the education have not materialized due to the short interval between the person obtaining the degree and the divorce.

The Court weighs other factors into its decision. Speak to a family law practitioner to see whether you qualify.