Periodic alimony is support paid in installments whose total cannot be fixed when the decree is entered, because the payments run for an indefinite time or stop at death or remarriage.
What Makes Alimony “Periodic”
In Coursey v. Coursey, 299 Ga. 203 (2016), the Georgia Supreme Court put it this way: “Periodic alimony is characterized by an indefinite number of payments and may also be contingent or indeterminable as to a total amount.” A schedule that looks fixed becomes periodic the moment a condition is attached. In Shepherd v. Collins, 283 Ga. 124 (2008), a husband owed 180 monthly payments in stated amounts, but they were to “cease only upon the death of the Wife.” Because of “this contingency regarding the wife’s survival,” the total was uncertain and the award was periodic. Likewise, in Dillard v. Dillard, 265 Ga. 478 (1995), a set number of payments that ended on the wife’s remarriage was periodic alimony.
It Need Not Be a Monthly Check
Any support obligation of indefinite duration is periodic alimony. In Andrews v. Whitaker, 265 Ga. 76 (1995), a husband ordered to buy his former wife an annuity, and to give her two Masters Golf Tournament tickets every other year, was paying periodic alimony because “the actual amount to be paid” was indefinite. An award can also step up on its own. Hayes v. Hayes, 248 Ga. 526 (1981), upheld alimony of $700 a month plus 25 percent of any increase in the husband’s pension.
Why the Label Matters
Periodic alimony can be revised when either former spouse’s income and financial status change, OCGA 19-6-19(a), and it “terminates at the death of either party.” Winokur v. Winokur, 258 Ga. 88 (1988). It also ends at the recipient’s remarriage unless the decree expressly says otherwise. OCGA 19-6-5(b). Lump sum alimony has none of those features, as our post on it explains, and modification and termination each have their own posts.
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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!