Wife’s Transitional Alimony Ends After Relocating for Better Job

Tennessee alimony modification divorce case summary.

Marlene J. Bidelman-Dye v. James D. Dye

The parties to this Tennessee divorce case were married in 2004.  At the time, the wife was an attorney in Pittsburgh.  After the marriage, they moved to Tennessee, where the wife was employed as an attorney, earning a salary of $100,000.  They had one daughter, who was born in 2006.

In 2011, the wife learned that the husband had been involved in extramarital affairs, and they separated.  The wife filed for divorce in 2012.  While the divorce was pending, the wife lost her job with the law firm, and the husband made numerous allegations that she was depleting marital assets.  Eventually, the divorce was granted, and the wife was awarded transitional alimony in the amount of $1,000 per month, which was eventually terminated.

The day after the divorce, the wife made a motion to relocate to Pittsburgh.  This was initially denied, since the trial court did not see that the wife had a job there, and that she was still taking clients in Tennessee.

After the lower court’s judgment was entered, the wife brought an appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, raising a number of issues.  One of the issues was the propriety of terminating the transitional alimony.

The appeals court first determined that the husband’s income had been properly computed.  He received a salary and bonus, and also received advances against the bonus.  The Court of Appeals held that the advances against bonus could not be separately counted in computing annual income.

The wife argued that once the transitional alimony had been set, the trial court erred in ending the obligation.  She argued that an award of alimony cannot be modified under Tennessee law.  But the appeals court held that the wife’s move to Pittsburg was to secure a much better paying job, and that continuing the alimony obligation under these new circumstances would not be proper.

After addressing a number of other issues, the appeals court concluded that they had also been properly decided, and affirmed the judgment of the lower court.

No. E2014-01891-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 29, 2016).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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