Your goals and priorities as you divorce likely depend in large part on your age and stage of life. If you’re among the increasing number of people divorcing in their 50s and older, one of those priorities is likely being able to retire financially securely and enjoy the latter part of your life, just as you and your spouse once planned to do together.
If you are ordered to pay alimony, what will that do to your retirement plans? Many older divorcing spouses who have been the primary “breadwinner” in their marriages have to pay alimony, at least for a time. That’s especially true if their spouse has spent years out of the workplace raising the kids.
What if you’re paying open durational alimony?
While New Jersey doesn’t have a specific category of “permanent” alimony, it does have “open durational” alimony. That means it can be ordered for as long as needed if the recipient spouse isn’t able to gain the experience, skills and/or education needed to support themselves – for example, due to their age and perhaps their health.
If you’re ordered to pay open durational alimony, you can still retire. However, you’ll need to seek a modification of the support order from the court to lower the amount or even end the payments completely.
What factors will the court consider?
If your ex is agreeable to this, getting the modification should be easy. If they aren’t, you’ll need to present your case for modifying your support order so that you can retire.
As long as you’re retiring at more or less the traditional retirement age for your occupation, you likely won’t need to provide any other justification. However, the court will look at your other sources of income (like Social Security, veterans’ benefits, pension and investment income) and your overall assets as well as your ex’s income and assets. Just as they do when first determining alimony and property division, the court will try to ensure that any order is fair to both parties.
Whether you’re just beginning the divorce process and thinking ahead to your eventual retirement or you’re already divorced and want to ensure that you can modify your support order before you leave your job, it’s crucial to have experienced legal guidance. This can help ensure that your retirement plans don’t hit any unnecessary speed bumps.