Tennessee Ex-Husband Allowed to Seek End of Alimony After 17 Years

Tennessee alimony modification and termination law case summary following 17 years after divorce.

Judy Smith Stewart v. Johnnie Stewart  – Tennessee post-divorce alimony modification and termination

Judy Smith Stewart and Johnnie Stewart were married in 1972 and had eight children.  When they divorced in 1997, they reached an agreement on all issues, which included alimony.  The husband was not represented by an attorney at the time of the divorce, and shortly thereafter, he went to court and asked to have the agreement set aside.  However, the court declined to do so.  The husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, and in 1999, that court affirmed.

In 2012, the husband filed another motion asking to have his alimony obligation set aside.  He cited a change in circumstances, namely, that his health had declined, his income was reduced, and he was approaching retirement.  He also argued that his wife no longer needed the alimony.

The court denied the motion after holding a hearing.  The court referred to the 1997 agreement, which made clear that the alimony would not be modified or reduced for any reason.  Dissatisfied with that outcome, the husband once again appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  He argued that the lower court had erred in concluding that the alimony was non-modifiable.

The appeals court first noted that it agreed, as a general proposition, with the husband’s claim that alimony in futuro is modifiable in Tennessee.  The court pointed to a number of Tennessee statutes that pre-suppose that such an award can be modified in the proper circumstances.

The appeals court then turned to the wording of the 1997 agreement.  The agreement noted that alimony would terminate upon death or remarriage, and the wife argued that these were the exclusive methods by which the obligation could change.  But the appeals court pointed out that these were common contingencies, and the use of this language did not render the alimony non-modifiable in other circumstances.  In short, the question of modification was not addressed one way or another, meaning that the lower court should have considered the issue.

For this reason, the appeals court reversed the lower court’s order, and remanded the case in order for the lower court to make the determination of whether the alimony should be modified in this case.

No. E2013-02548-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 9, 2014).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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