Massachusetts considers ending 'lifetime alimony'

BOSTON — Steve Niro got married three decades ago but divorced less than five years later. He's been paying alimony ever since — and there's no end in sight.

After Niro's youngest child graduated from college a few years ago, his child support ended and his remaining alimony payment was $65 a week. But his wife took him to court for a modification, and a judge agreed to increase the alimony to $700 a week, or $36,000 a year.

Niro's story is one of many expected to be heard by Massachusetts lawmakers this week as the legislature considers a bill to reform what critics call an antiquated law that allow judges to grant so-called "lifetime alimony."

"I could be paying alimony for the rest of my life for a 4½-year marriage when I was a kid," said Niro, now 53. "It's just unfair."

The state's current law does not contain any duration limits for alimony, but allows judges to consider assets, the length of the marriage, employment and other factors when deciding how much a spouse should pay in alimony.

Divorce lawyers say Massachusetts judges frequently award lifetime alimony in both long- and short-term marriages, creating animosity and a disincentive to settle cases.

"The alimony friction is huge. It creates stress and tension, and it filters down to the kids. It is a very, very hot issue and has been for years," said Denise Squillante, a family law attorney and president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, which supports the reform bill.

Most states have done away with lifetime alimony — with some exceptions — considering it a relic from the days when most women stayed home and raised children and did not work outside the home, said Linda Lea Viken, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

"Most judges today expect that both spouses will go to work," Viken said. "That is one of the differences that drives this. That wasn't the view years ago, but it is the view now."

The law proposed in Massachusetts would end lifetime alimony payments in most cases and cap how much one spouse is ordered to pay the other. For example, for marriages of 5 years or less, the maximum alimony term would be half of the number of months of marriage, or 2½ years. For marriages over 15 years, the maximum alimony term would be 80 percent of the months of marriage. For most long-term marriages of more than 20 years, alimony would end at the retirement age defined by the Social Security Act.