Alimony reform law in Massachusetts changes the divorce game
Gov. Deval Patrick on September 2011, signed into law an alimony reform bill that resets expectations for alimony payments in Massachusetts. Divorce lawyers in the Bay State now have a new calculus for setting alimony payments, including caps set on clients’ compensation. The winners in the new law, which the Massachusetts senate sent to the governor’s desk last Monday, are payers who get divorced out of short-lived marriages: In marriages shorter than 10 years, the new law limits the longevity of the alimony agreement accordingly. The most straightforward limits in the state’s new alimony law include: In marriages lasting five years or less, divorce alimony is to continue no longer than half the length of the marriage. In marriages six to 10 years long, alimony is capped at 60 percent of the length of the marriage. A schedule will be established by which parties to the alimony agreement may appeal for adjustment. The new law also sets up special new categories of divorc