USA – MASSACHUSETTS TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS Contributed by: Caterina S Wurman and Madeline R Pelagalli, Fitch Law Partners LLP
alimony shall continue for not longer than 60% of the number of months of the mar - riage; • if the length of the marriage is 15 years or less, but more than ten years, general term alimony shall continue for not longer than 70% of the number of months of the mar - riage; and • if the length of the marriage is 20 years or less, but more than 15 years, general term ali - mony shall continue for not longer than 80% of the number of months of the marriage. In marriages that exceed 20 years, Massachu - setts courts maintain their discretion to order alimony for an indefinite period of time. Massachusetts courts do have discretion to effectively increase the length of the marriage, and thereby length of the durational limit, when there is evidence that the parties lived together and shared an economic partnership prior to the marriage. Likewise, courts may consider a mari - tal separation of significant length prior to divorce to effectively decrease the length of the parties’ marriage (and thereby the durational term limit of alimony). If a court were to award alimony to a spouse in excess of the above-mentioned time limits, the court is required to find that the devia - tion is in the interests of justice. In addition to the durational time limits applica - ble to general term alimony awards (as set forth earlier), the ARA also provides that general term alimony awards terminate upon remarriage of the recipient, the death of either spouse, or upon the payor attaining full retirement age – which - ever comes first. Full retirement age is defined as the payor’s normal retirement age when they are eligible to receive full Social Security retirement benefits. Even if a payor spouse has the ability to work beyond retirement age, that alone is not
a reason to extend alimony. Courts retain their discretion, however, to: • set a different alimony termination date (other than retirement age) when entering an initial court order; or • extend an existing alimony award beyond retirement age, provided the recipient spouse can demonstrate a material change of circumstances occurred – which must be supported by clear and convincing evidence – after the entry of the alimony judgment. In either case, courts are required to enter writ - ten findings of the reasons for deviation. How - ever, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the retirement provisions of the ARA apply only prospectively, effectively barring modifications due to the retirement provisions under the ARA for those alimony judgments entered prior to the enactment of the ARA. While remarriage of the recipient spouse will ter - minate both general term alimony and rehabili - tative alimony, it will not cause a termination of reimbursement or transitional alimony. The ARA provides for the suspension, reduction or termi - nation of alimony upon a showing that the recipi - ent spouse is cohabiting with another person (or sharing a common household) for at least three months. It is the payor/supporting spouse’s bur - den to demonstrate that the recipient spouse has maintained a common household with another person for a continuous period of at least three months. It is unclear whether the cohabitation context is limited to romantic partners only. The ARA also includes guidelines for the amount of alimony awards and provides that, generally speaking, alimony awards (except for reimburse - ment alimony or deviations of other forms of ali- mony) should not exceed the recipient’s need or
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