Tenn. Ex-Wife’s Remarriage and Full-time Employment May Lower Alimony

Tennessee alimony modification law case summary from the Court of Appeals.

Shonda Kay Finchum v. Danny Wayne Finchum – Tennessee divorce alimony modification.

The husband and wife were divorced in 2009 after a ten-year marriage with two children.  The parties agreed to a marital dissolution agreement which provided for rehabilitative alimony of $1,000 per month, payable until June 2012.

In 2010, the husband filed a petition to modify the alimony obligation.  He asked to terminate the alimony payments because the wife had remarried and had greater wage earning ability.   The trial court denied the request and instead held that the alimony was contractual in nature and could not be modified.  The husband appealed this decision to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court.  Even though the alimony had been agreed to in the marital dissolution agreement, it was in the nature of rehabilitative alimony.  Under Tennessee law, rehabilitative alimony can be modified due to changed circumstances.  The trial court had cited an earlier case in which alimony could not be modified if it was deemed to be contractual in nature.  However, the Court of Appeals found that the earlier case did not apply, because that case had involved alimony in solido rather than rehabilitative alimony.  In the case of rehabilitative alimony, modification is still possible, even though the amount was previously agreed to by the parties in their contract.

In this case, the trial court had not considered the evidence of changed circumstances, because it concluded that the alimony could not be modified.  Therefore, the Court of Appeals remanded the case.  On remand, the trial court was to determine whether the wife’s remarriage and change to full-time employment constituted a substantial and material change of circumstances.

The Court of Appeals also held that the husband should not be liable for attorney’s fees with respect to the petition to modify.  Therefore, it also partially reversed the trial court’s award of attorney fees.

No. M2012-00975-COA-R3-CV (Tenn.Ct. App. Feb. 13, 2013).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, read Tennessee Alimony Law in Divorce | Answers to FAQs.  Also, for legal updates, news, analysis, and commentary, see our Tennessee Family Law Blog and its Alimony category.  A Memphis divorce lawyer from the Miles Mason Family Law Group can help.  To schedule your confidential consultation, call us today at (901) 683-1850.