Former Big-Firm Lawyer, Now Jobless, Still on the Hook for Alimony

Family Law

Former Big-Firm Lawyer, Now Jobless, Still on the Hook for Alimony

Posted Jul 1, 2008, 07:35 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A Massachusetts appeals court has affirmed an order requiring a former big law firm lawyer to pay his ex-wife more than $700 a week in alimony even though he is now unemployed.

The lawyer had been a former U.S. Supreme Court law clerk and went on to work as an energy lawyer at a large Washington, D.C., law firm, according to a summary of the opinion on Legal Blog Watch. At the firm, he earned an average income of $500,000 to $700,000 a year.

The lawyer was worn out from the stress and had been talking to his wife about an alternative career that would produce enough income to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. But the couple eventually separated and the lawyer abruptly quit in January 2001. He still was not employed at the time of the trial in September 2003.

A trial judge had found the lawyer had “made minimal attempts to obtain employment” and had not interviewed with any law firms. He was using his assets to cover his expenses.

The trial judge found the lawyer had the potential to make at least $200,000 a year, and the Massachusetts Appeals Court found no error. The lawyer is not identified in the June 27 opinion.

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Posted by associate - 4 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 5 hours ago

She gets paid more for being divorced than I do for working? Can I divorce him too?

Seriously though, it’s now against the rules to get burned out and change your life in the midst of a divorce? That’s so wrong.
Posted by Accustomed - 4 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 4 hours, 31 minutes ago

Associate - The wife is clearly entitled to the means and lifestyle to which she is accustomed to. She is accustomed to it, don’t you understand? You should know that the “till death do us apart” wedding vows do not apply equally to all aspects of a marriage (loyalty, monogamy, standing by each other to the end, etc). They only apply to the higher earning spouse’s Wallet. Silly you to think that these vows applied to the spouses themselves.

There is a very strong statistical correlation on who files for the divorce and who receives alimony as a result. (i.e. 9/10 the filers receive the alimony). This should tell you something about our alimony laws. We should stop using the word alimony anway. It is outdated. We should use the more modern term: “divorce incentive”.
Posted by Payor - 4 months, 3 weeks, 20 hours, 28 minutes ago

Alimony isn’t just “divorce incentive”.....
It is state imposed Slavery!

Additionally it flies in the face of self reliance, a core concept of the free enterprise economic system.
It creates a private pay welfare recepient.
Both party’s lose…...the attorney’s get paid, so there you have it…..it really is all about the money.
Posted by Chris - 4 months, 3 weeks, 16 hours, 31 minutes ago

Yep, the article doesn’t suggest the wife is disabled. If anything the husband should be required to pay for her to get a four year degree, if she doesn’t already have one. If she does than his payments should terminate after a few months.

This whole concept of becoming “accustomed” to a certain lifestyle is BS. His lifestyle changed with the divorce, why shouldn’t hers?
Posted by CFLAP - 4 months, 3 weeks, 11 hours, 56 minutes ago

Forget the details of this divorce. When did the American people turn their liberty over to a judicial oligarchy that has the power to enslave a person to them for life because they were once married?
Posted by Optimist - 4 months, 3 weeks, 8 hours, 30 minutes ago

The real question is:
What do we do about it?
Posted by Accustomed - 4 months, 3 weeks, 6 hours, 4 minutes ago

This former big-firm lawyer is practically destined to be a lifelong Slave/Prisoner of the State from here on. Throw him in jail and throw away the key. Unless he saved quite a bit during his practicing days to pay all this back alimony off, those Alimony Arrears will have added up quite a bit since going into effect in 2003. For the rest of his remaining days on planet, he can look forward to going in and out of jail for regular bouts of “contempt of court”. Some of these contempt charges may be handed down as Criminal Contempt as opposed to Civil Contempt. In this case, they will start appearing in his background checks. I doubt he will ever get a $200,000/year big-firm job with a rapsheet like that. Heck, he will be lucky to get a job at Circuit City. Alimony arrears can’t be lost via bankruptcy. They will just keep growing and keep shuttling him in and out of prison for the rest of his days. This guy is done. Put a fork in him.

So essentially we have turned a formerly productive citizen (with a bright future) into a “Lifer”, a state of existence normally reserved for the worst kind of convicted criminals such as murderers, rapists, kidnappers, etc. His only “crime” was to get married.

And everyone is so outraged about what goes on in Guantanamo Bay. We have hundreds of thousands of Guantanamo Bays happening under our noses to our own citizens every year. And these guys never wanted to blow up anything in the first place.
Posted by eli - 4 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 21 hours, 15 minutes ago

I am interested in hearing from anyone with a horror story from the MA probate court system. i’m a journalist writing about this, and very opposed to the status quo: ebenedict@earthlink.net. thanks
Posted by Steve Hitner - 4 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes ago

This story is just the tip of the iceburg. The orginization MASS ALIMONY REFORM is working to change the archaic alimony laws in Massachusetts. All of you who read this go to massalimonyreform.org and join us in our efforts. We must unite to change this.

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