CELEBRITY DIVORCE FILING ASKS THAT HUSBAND NOT RECEIVE ALIMONY

Generally, a spouse with higher income and greater earning capacity may be ordered to pay alimony to the ex-spouse who makes significantly less. In Michigan and other states, there are numerous factors weighed by the court prior to entering an award of support or alimony. In one case in another state, Rutina Wesley, 34, who stars in the series called “True Blood”, filed for a divorce and requested that the court grant her husband absolutely no alimony.

In general, spousal support is an order for a spouse to pay the other spouse support payments during the pendency of divorce proceedings prior to the divorce order. An order must be based on the paying spouse having greater earnings and earning capacity than the other spouse. After a divorce is entered, however, spousal support payments stop. The court may continue the payments post-divorce but only under an order for post-divorce alimony payments.

Wesley filed her complaint in the Los Angeles Superior Court, wherein she requested a no-fault divorce based on irreconcilable differences. Her additional request that the court make no alimony order against her seems procedurally premature. Generally, a party filing a divorce complaint will wait for the answer and counterclaim to see what the other spouse is requesting.

If alimony is requested, then the complainant can dispute that claim. Wesley has determined that her husband, Jacob Fishel, an actor in the “Without a Trace” series, makes considerably less than she does. After eight years of marriage that could qualify him for alimony payments.

Length of marriage is a strong factor among many considerations the court looks at to determine if alimony is payable. Here, the eight years is not an unusually long marriage. However, it’s long enough under the circumstances, especially in the celebrity sub-culture existing in Hollywood.

In olden days, alimony was almost exclusively granted in favor of a female who made considerably less that her husband. In recent decades, the advent of gender equality has reversed that historical fact and opened alimony to requests for support by needy males against better-off female partners. In Michigan and most states, alimony is generally considered rehabilitative, meaning that it will end as soon as the receiving former spouse is able to become economically self-sufficient.

Source: thecelebritycafe.com, ‘True Blood’ star Rutina Wesley files for divorce, Jessica Bell, Aug. 21, 2013