64 Yr. Old Husband Married 24 Yrs. Pays Alimony of $2,500 / Mo.
Tennessee alimony law case summary following 24 years married. Divorce and alimony law from the Court of Appeals.
Leo Holt v. Alma Jean Holt – Tennessee divorce alimony, 24 year marriage
The husband and wife were married in 1987. The husband had Bachelor’s degrees in Business, Science in Religion, and a Masters in Theology. The wife had a Masters degree in Biblical Studies and a doctorate in ministry. They started a non-denomination church in Memphis in 1989, and the church subsequently grew very large. In 2010, both parties filed for divorce in Shelby County. In 2011, the divorce was granted. The wife was awarded approximately $250 per month of the husband’s pension. In addition, she was awarded alimony in solido of $29,700. She was also awarded alimony in futuro of $2,500 per month. The court denied the wife’s request that the husband be required to pay the cost of her COBRA benefits. Both parties appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The husband argued that the trial court erred in making the alimony awards. The wife argued that the trial court should have ordered the husband to pay the cost of COBRA benefits. The wife also argued that the trial court should have considered the income generated through the church when making its alimony determination, but the Court of Appeals quickly dismissed that argument, since she had failed to cite any authorities in support of it.
The trial court had based its $29,700 award of alimony in solido upon the husband’s failure to make mortgage payments on the parties’ residence for nine months prior to the property being foreclosed upon. The amount was the sum of those nine payments. The Court of Appeals disagreed with this approach, since there was no basis for simply awarding the missed payments to the wife. Therefore, the Court of Appeals reversed this portion of the judgment.
On the issue of the $2,500 monthly alimony in futuro, the Court of Appeals first noted that the most important factors for a court to consider are the need of an economically disadvantaged spouse and the obligor spouse’s ability to pay. The Court of Appeals considered the trial court’s rationale, and found that there had been no abuse of discretion. At the time of trial, the husband was 64 years old, and the wife was 57. They had worked together to grow the church over the years, and the wife was fired from her position and unemployed at the time of trial. Therefore, the Court of Appeals concluded that she had a definite need of support. The husband, on the other hand, and an income in excess of $9,000 per month and had an ability to pay. For those reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the award of alimony.
No. W2012-00265-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 15, 2013).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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