TN Doctor’s Wife Entitled to $4,500/Mo. Alimony After 19 Yrs.

Tennessee law case summary on alimony in divorce and family law from the Court of Appeals after a 19 year marriage.

Jim Najim Jirjis v. Tammy Sue Jirjis – Tennessee divorce alimony following 19 years married.

Jim Najim Jirjis and Tammy Sue Jirjis were married in 1993, shortly after the husband had earned his medical degree from the University of Chicago.  The couple moved to Nashville, where the husband was doing his residency in internal medicine.  After his residency, he had a successful career at Vanderbilt University, culminating in a salary of over $360,000 per year.  The couple had two children, a son born in 1994, and a daughter born in 1996.

The wife had a high school degree and some college work.  During the marriage, she stayed at home to raise the children.  By the time of their 2012 divorce, the wife had earned a real estate license and was earning $3,000 per month as an assistant property manager.

In 2007, the husband filed for divorce, but then dismissed the complaint.  In 2010, he filed another divorce complaint and alleged irreconcilable differences.  At this time, the wife also alleged that he husband had been guilty of inappropriate marital conduct.

In  2012, the Chancery Court of Williamson County, Judge Derek K. Smith, granted the divorce.  In August, 2012, a trial was held on the issues of parenting, property division, and alimony.  The wife argued that she needed $7,000 per month in alimony, and introduced statements of income and expenses to support this claim.  The most valuable asset owned by the parties was the Husband’s 403(b) account, valued at about $638,000.

The trial court first named the husband as the primary residential parent and divided the parties’ assets.  The trial court awarded alimony of $3,000 per month, after noting that the husband intended to pay the children’s private school tuition.  The alimony was to be transitional for a period of five years.  The trial court’s reasoning for awarding this amount was that the wife was economically disadvantaged and needed to adjust to the economic consequences of the divorce.  The trial court made some modifications to the original orders prior to this appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  The appeals court first discussed the property division before moving on to the question of alimony, which it called the key issue in the case.

The wife argued that the mere $3000 per month in transitional alimony was an illogical result, because of the length of the marriage and the disparity between the parties’ incomes.  She asked the appeals court to increase the amount to $6,000.

The Court of Appeals first examined the relevant factors, and then concluded that the record supported the wife’s claim that she will never be able to earn enough to match the standard of living enjoyed during the marriage.  She was 45 years old, and it was not reasonable to expect her income to increase sufficiently.  Therefore, an award of rehabilitative alimony was not proper in this case.  Instead, an award of alimony in futuro was called for.

The appeals court examined the record and concluded that $4,500 per month would be proper in this case.  In addition, it awarded the wife her attorney fees.

No. M2013-00512-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 30, 2014).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Tennessee Alimony Law in Divorce | Answers to FAQs by a Memphis Lawyer.