A Georgia judge sets temporary alimony by the standard in OCGA 19-6-3, not by the eight factors that govern a permanent award.
What the Statute Says
Under OCGA 19-6-3(a), the court allows “such temporary alimony, including expenses of litigation, as the condition of the parties and the facts of the case may justify.” Under subsection (b), the judge “shall consider the peculiar necessities created for each party by the pending litigation and any evidence of a separate estate owned by either party,” and if the claimant’s estate “is ample as compared with that of the other party, temporary alimony may be refused.” The permanent factors in OCGA 19-6-5(a) have their own post.
Needs and Ability to Pay
In Walton v. Walton, 219 Ga. 729 (1964), the Georgia Supreme Court said “the necessities of the wife and the husband’s ability to pay are the controlling factors.” Ability to pay means “either capacity to labor and earn or the ownership of property.” The husband there owned four radio stations but produced no records and gave only vague statements that business was poor, so a rebuttable presumption arose that the wife’s claim was well founded, and $900 a month was affirmed.
Likewise, in Gordon v. Gordon, 244 Ga. 21 (1979), an award was upheld on the husband’s earning capacity as a Harvard Ph.D. teaching abroad, “notwithstanding the absence of evidence as to his actual income.”
Your Own Income Does Not Rule It Out
In Ayers v. Ayers, 191 Ga. 777 (1941), both spouses worked at the same mill for nearly the same wage, and the award to the wife stood: “while the judge might have refused the plaintiff alimony, he was not required to do so.”
The Evidence
Under Gray v. Gray, 226 Ga. 767 (1970), “[t]he rules of evidence are not as strictly applied at an interlocutory hearing on an application for temporary alimony as in the final trial of the case.”
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!