57 Yr Old Wife Awarded $2K/Mo Alimony From 76 Yr Old Husband
Tennessee alimony divorce case summary after 21 years married.
Paul Thomas Jackson v. Susan Denise Jackson
The husand and wife in this Crockett County, Tennessee, divorce case were married in 1993. It was the husband’s third marriage and the wife’s second, and no children were born of the marriage. For the majority of the marriage, the wife was employed, and had degrees in music. The husband had three years of college. He was employed by the Air Force prior to the marriage and then operated a photography business.
After 21 years of marriage, the husband filed for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct. The wife alleged the same grounds. At the time of the court hearing, the husband was 76 years old and the wife was 57.
The wife left the marital home in 2012, and the husband gave her $3,000 per month for expenses. She eventually moved back.
In 2014, the husband’s photography business had business income of about $55,000, and he received retirement and disability income of about $7,000 per month. However, he questioned how long he would be able to keep working as a photographer.
The wife testified that she could no longer work due to various ailments. She did care for her grandchildren during the day, but said that she slept when they did, and that her son provided everything she needed to care for them. She received disability income of about $1,586 per month, but didn’t have access to her retirement income until the age of 67.5. She claimed expenses of about $4,300 per month.
The trial court divided their property and granted the divorce based upon the husband’s conduct. The lower court ordered the husband to pay her attorney fees of about $11,000 and the remainder of the mortgage, about $16,000. But the lower court denied the wife’s request for alimony in futuro, and the wife appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
On appeal, the wife argued that alimony should have been granted because of her need and the husband’s ability to pay. The appeals court noted that a court must consider a number of factors in making an alimony decision. In this case, the lower court found most of those factors to be equally weighted.
The appeals court noted that the two most relevant factors are the disadvantaged spouse’s need and the other spouse’s ability to pay. The disadvantaged spouse’s need is the primary of these.
The appeals court was sympathetic to the wife’s arguments. It noted that even though the husband was older, he had a higher earning capacity due to his retirement and disability income, a source that the wife couldn’t tap until she was 67. Therefore, upon its review of all of the evidence, it concluded that $2000 per month would be appropriate until such time as she could access her own retirement income.
The appeals court also awarded the wife her attorney’s fees on the appeal.
For these reasons, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case.
No. W2016-00007-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 4, 2016).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Alimony Law in Tennessee.
