23 Year Marriage + Special Needs Daughter Justified Permanent Alimony
Tennessee alimony divorce case summary after 25 years married.
Charles Joseph Tooley v. Pamela M. Howey Tooley
The husband and wife in this Sumner County, Tennessee, case were married in 1991. They had one minor child and one adult child who was disabled. After 23 years of marriage, the husband filed for divorce, and also sought a conservatorship for the disabled daughter.
Trial was held in 2016, at which time the husband was 58 years old. He had a high school diploma and worked as a service technician, earning $22.15 per hour.
The wife was 47 years old. During most of the marriage, she had cared for the parties’ children and did not work outside the home. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.
The trial court ruled on property issues, and ordered the husband to pay $1,140 per month in child support. The wife was also awarded $1,300 per month alimony in futuro. The husband appealed on a number of issues, including the award of alimony.
The husband first argued that the trial court should have instead awarded rehabilitative alimony. The appeals court first noted that there is a legislative preference for this type of alimony, and it should be used if it is possible to rehabilitate an economically disadvantaged spouse. But it also recognized that this is not feasible in all cases.
After carefully reviewing the evidence, the Court of Appeals concluded that the evidence supported the finding that rehabilitation was not feasible. It pointed out that the wife had little ability to work outside the home due to the need to care for the disabled daughter. Therefore, it affirmed the conclusion as to the type of alimony.
As to the amount, the husband argued that the trial court should not have taken into account his overtime pay when making the calculation. But the appeals court held that overtime may be considered, and cited cases so holding.
The appeals court then reviewed the other issues in the case and affirmed all of them. For this reason, it affirmed the lower court’s entire judgment.
No. M2017-00610-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 8, 2018).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Alimony Law in Tennessee.
