Tennessee Surgeon’s Alimony Ends Upon Retirement

Tennessee alimony modification case summary in family law.

A.C. Odom v. J.B. Odom – Tennessee alimony termination due to retirement

The husband and wife in this Tennessee divorce case were married in 1970 and divorced in 2007.  The husband was an orthopedic surgeon, and the wife was found to be the economically disadvantaged spouse.  The trial court awarded alimony in the amount of $10,000 per month.

In 2012, the husband filed a petition to terminate his alimony on the grounds that he had retired.  At the time of trial, he was 65 years old and had problems with his left arm gripping and feeling things.  He had Raynaud’s disease, which prevented blood from flowing to the digits, causing numbness.

At the time of trial, both parties had a net worth of about $3.7 million each.  The husband’s income as a surgeon had been over $500,000 per year, but his income after retiring was considerably lower.

The trial court noted that there had been health problems.  But it also held that those problems did not become severe until after the husband made the final decision to retire.  Therefore, it held that there had been no change of circumstances warranting an end to alimony.  The husband then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The Appeals Court first looked at whether there had been a substantial change of circumstances.  Retirement can constitute such a change of circumstances if it is objectively reasonable.

In this case, the appeals court held that the retirement was reasonable, even though the husband’s condition was not totally debilitating at the time he made the decision to retire.  Even in the absence of medical problems, the appeals court noted that it is reasonable for persons to retire in their mid-sixties.

In this case, especially since the wife was no longer economically disadvantaged, the appeals court held that the retirement constituted a change of circumstances warranting an end to the alimony obligation.  For that reason, it reversed the lower court’s ruling.

No. E2014-01049-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 14, 2015).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Alimony Modification in Tennessee Law | How to Modify Alimony.