In long-term marriages, unless the parties agree otherwise, the court retains jurisdiction over the issue of spousal support. In most cases, by the time retirement comes around, there is a fixed amount of support ordered. Seldom do we see a clause in a dissolution judgment that steps down or terminates spousal support upon retirement.
So the question becomes, what happens when the payor spouse retires. That, in turn, depends upon when the payor spouse retires. Normal retirement age is 65. But sometimes the person paying retires before that. Medical necessity, deliberate choice. The decision could be based upon any number of reasons. And unless the parties can come to an agreement, the payor spouse will file a request for an order seeking modification or even termination of support. There are a number of cases that deal with these issues and each is factually distinguishable from the other. There are cases where a deliberate choice is made for the purpose of stopping support payments. In that situation, things don’t usually go in favor of the spouse seeking retirement. In other cases, the court can find that retirement constitutes a sufficient change in circumstances to warrant modification, but the court can decline to modify support anyway. The courts have discretion to make orders that they feel are fair under the circumstances.
One way to avoid this issue is to make support awards non-modifiable as to amount or duration. The parties can take the jurisdiction away from the court to make such a decision by mutual agreement set forth as part of a settlement agreement. Without making such an agreement in advance, there is likely to be litigation down the road when the payor spouse retires.
For all of your family law needs, contact the Law Offices of Richard A. Marcus at 661-257-8877.