Tennessee Husband Not Entitled to Alimony Despite Disparity of Income
Tennessee alimony law case summary following 8 years of marriage. Divorce and alimony law from the Court of Appeals.
The husband and wife were married in 2003. Both had MBA degrees from Vanderbilt University. They had two children, both of whom attended private school. They separated in 2010, but maintained the same residence. In 2011, the husband filed for divorce, and the wife filed a counterclaim. Various financial matters were considered by the trial court. Among other things, the husband was to vacate the marital home, and the wife would pay him alimony of $1,500 per month until the time of trial. The husband had lost his job in 2008 as a result of cutbacks in the real estate department of his company, and he had been unsuccessful finding full-time employment. The wife, on the other hand, was critical of his efforts at finding employment, and testified that he was offered a job paying between $150,000 and $200,000, which he declined. The husband admitted that he sometimes smoked marijuana outside the house while the children were inside.
The wife earned a salary of $142,500 as a Vice President at Metropolitan Bank, and also received bonuses, the last of which had been $25,000, stock options, and a club membership.
The trial court found that the husband was willfully and voluntarily underemployed, and imputed an income of $3000 per month. The court divided the parties’ property. The court denied the husband periodic alimony, but the wife was ordered to repay him $27,000 alimony in solido, which he had removed from the children’s college accounts to pay his living expenses. Both parties were ordered to pay their own attorney fees.
The father appealed a number of issues to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. Among those issues was his claim that he was entitled to transitional alimony. The mother argued that the trial court should not have awarded the $27,000 alimony in solido.
The court began by noting that transitional alimony is designed to make a spouse self-sufficient, and is a short-term “bridge the gap” support. The husband had requested $6,000 per month for 48 months for this purpose. The trial court had denied this request since the parties had already been separated for over a year, and had “gone on with their lives and supported themselves.” The father pointed out the great disparity between their incomes. But the Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court, and held that the mere disparity of income was not sufficient grounds for transitional alimony. Both parties were of working age, had no disabilities, and were well-educated. The Court noted that the husband’s earning capacity was already much higher than his actual income.
Also, even though there was a disparity of assets after the divorce, this was insufficient to call for transitional alimony. The Court of Appeals did, however, affirm the trial court’s award of alimony in solido, based in part upon the wife’s greater assets after the divorce.
No. W2012-01983-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 10, 2013).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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