Alimony is support one spouse must provide for the other once they live apart, paid out of the paying spouse’s income or property.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-6-1(a) defines alimony as “an allowance out of one party’s estate, made for the support of the other party when living separately. It is either temporary or permanent.” Temporary alimony, which has its own posts, carries a spouse through the case. Permanent alimony is what the final decree sets; under OCGA 19-6-4(a) it may be granted in a divorce, a voluntary separation, or where one spouse is “abandoned or driven off by the other spouse.”
Support, Not a Reward or a Punishment
Under OCGA 19-6-1(c), alimony “is authorized, but is not required,” and goes to either party “in accordance with the needs of the party and the ability of the other party to pay.” So a court may award none at all, as it did in Stanley v. Stanley, 281 Ga. 672 (2007). Nor is it a penalty: Thomas v. Thomas, 233 Ga. 916 (1975), approved a jury instruction that alimony is “never for the purpose of penalizing the husband or the wife for his or her misconduct.”
Who gets alimony and how much, and the OCGA 19-6-1(b) bar when adultery or desertion caused the separation, are in our determining alimony posts.
What Alimony Is Not
Alimony is not a division of marital property; equitable division and a property settlement follow different rules, as Daniel v. Daniel, 277 Ga. 871 (2004), and our post on the distinction explain.
The Forms It Can Take
Permanent alimony may be periodic installments or a lump sum, and it may take the form of real estate, use of the home, or life or health insurance for the former spouse, each covered in its own post. The periodic-or-lump-sum question matters most: periodic alimony can be modified and ends at either spouse’s death or the recipient’s remarriage unless the decree says otherwise; lump sum alimony does neither.
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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!