TN Wife of 23 Yrs Gets $2,000 /mo x 48 Transitional Alimony in Divorce
Tennessee alimony law case summary following 23 years of marriage. Tennessee divorce and family law from the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Laurie Jo Edwards v Gary Wayne Edwards – Tennessee alimony law – 23 years married
An appeals court considered the case of Laurie Edwards, Wife and Gary Edwards, Husband. The two were married for 23 years when the Wife filed a petition for divorce in June of 2009. The Wife alleged the Husband has committed adultery and sought absolute divorce on the grounds of inappropriate marital conduct. The Husband contends the Wife engaged in adulterous acts as well.
The Wife sought temporary relief during the divorce proceedings, which she was given by a Special Master. The Wife was to begin to find employment and put the marital residence for sale on the open market. It required the Husband to pay $4,750 per month pending the final outcome of the trial.
The trial heard the case in May of 2010. The Husband is an executive working for Nissan and the Wife was unemployed, though she had a university degree and was employed in 1986 at the start of the marriage. She continued to work through 1998 when both parties decided she should stop working to spend more time with the children and elderly grandparents. At the time of the trial, the Husband was 56 years old and the Wife was 53 years old. The parties testified that they lived a life of luxury during the marriage and had large assets including a Harley Davidson motorcycle, three vehicles, a 401k account in both the wife and husband’s names separately and a pension from the Husband’s position.
The trial court granted the Wife a divorce and dismissed the Husband’s counter complaints. It divided equitably the marital property. It also determined the wife should receive transitional alimony for four years rather than alimony in futuro as the Wife requested. The trial court considered the long duration of the marriage, the significant contributions from both parties and their age, vocational skills, employability and earning capacity. The court found that the Wife’s desire to find work in her previous position may be unrealistic. It awarded the Wife alimony of $2000 per month for four years.
The appeals court determined the parties’ assets amounted to more than $2 million dollars. The Wife was awarded separate property of $46,055 and Husband was awarded separate property of $30,000. Half of the two retirement accounts and pensions, as well as half of the SERP account were awarded to each party. The Wife stated that the value of marital property the court awarded to here was $920,750.07 and the total awarded to the Husband was $1,261,181. The Husband was responsible for $427,576.13 of the debt and the Wife was responsible for $8,150 of debt.
The trial court required $2,000 per month in transitional alimony paid to the wife for four years and ordered the Husband to pay COBRA benefits for 18 months. The Wife states she should have received alimony in futuro and stated the amount was insufficient, stating that least $6,825 per month is necessary to provide her with the standard of living she had during the marriage.
The appeals court noted the facts in the case, including the Wife’s unwillingness to withdraw from the pension accounts. It also considered the $118,000 that the Husband was preparing to pay for interest in the marital home.
It found that rehabilitation is not necessary in that she is already in a position where she can see and find employment, but the court believed she needed assistance to adjust to economic consequences of divorce. At the time of the trial, the Husband was 56 years old and he was earning $203,000 per year as a director of engineering, parts quality, and quality assurance at Nissan. The Wife was 53 years old. Because of these findings, the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s ruling for alimony.
No. M2010-02223-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. June 19, 2012).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more about alimony, read Tennessee Alimony Law in Divorce | Answers to FAQs. Also, see the MemphisDivorce.com Tennessee Family Law Blog and its Alimony category.
Memphis divorce lawyer, Miles Mason, Sr. practices family law exclusively and is the founder of the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC, which handles Tennessee family law matters including divorce, alimony, alimony modification, child support, and child support modification. Download our free e-Book, Your First Steps: 7 Steps Planning Your Tennessee Divorce. Contact an attorney today at (901) 683-1850.
