Tennessee Doctor’s Wife Rehab Alimony Award Lowered Due to Math Error
Tennessee law case summary on alimony in Tennessee divorce and family law from the Tennessee Court of Appeals. Trial court’s alimony award was overturned because it was too high. Note: This is the second article on this case.
Shandra Kay Hattaway v. Kevin Todd Hattaway – Tennessee Rehabilitative Alimony Law – 19 Years Married
Shandra Kay Hattaway, the wife (44), and Kevin Todd Hattaway, the husband (41), married in December 1991. They had two children in the 1990s. During the early years of the marriage, the wife worked as a hair stylist to support the family while the husband attended medical school. The wife stopped working in December 1995 in order to care for their first child. In 1995, she earned approximately $12,000. The wife is also dyslexic, and has no serious work experience or special employments skills. In 1996, the husband started work as a doctor. In 2000, the husband opened his own family practice in Tennessee but in 2009 began looking for better employment options. He moved to Colorado in 2010 to work as a doctor with the military. The husband earns $121,000 a year. In April 2010, the wife filed for divorce. The wife was awarded rehabilitative alimony in the amount of $1,700 a month for 96 months (8 years), specifically stating that the alimony would not be considered alimony in solido.
On appeal, the husband argued that the alimony award was too high.
The appeals court found that an award of alimony, including the amount, the type and the period of payment, is based on a balancing of a number of factors. These include the earning capacity and obligations of each party, the education and professional experience of each party, the length of the marriage, the age and mental and physical condition of each person, the standard of living during the marriage and the relative fault of the parties. The most important factor, however, is the ability of the obligor spouse to pay and the need of the disadvantaged spouse.
Rehabilitative alimony too high
The court agreed with the husband that there were discrepancies in the wife’s affidavit regarding her income and needs. Since the husband is paying the debt on the marital home, the wife’s statement of expenses should not include payments on the mortgage. The appeals court lowered the wife’s needs by approximately $130.
The appeals court also considered the ability of the husband to pay. The court found that after all of his expenses – including $700 child support for a child the husband had with another woman, over $1,500 to his two children from his marriage with the wife, as well as the health insurance payments for the wife – the husband was left with only $1,029 a month. The court sent the case back to the trial court to recalculate the amount the husband should pay in rehabilitative alimony, taking into consideration the COBRA payments for health insurance. In a footnote, the court said that once the COBRA payments end, his alimony payments could increase by the same amount.
No. M2011-01165-COA-R3-CV, (Tenn. Ct. App. May 16, 2012).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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