There’s a misconception that men are the ones who always have to pay child support and alimony. Now, more women are finding themselves paying for both alimony and child support. According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, four in 10 lawyers have seen an increase in women paying for alimony. This spike in women paying spousal support has been occurring for the past five years. Additionally, lawyers have said that they’ve seen a 54% rise in mothers paying for child support.
Alimony is the support and maintenance of a former spouse, either by lump sum or continuingly. The supporting spouse pays this payment to the dependent spouse. In general, a spouse is dependent when he or she makes less money than the other spouse.
When two parents are no longer living together, child support, a form of support payment, is required. Both parents need to support their children so that those children do not become wards of the state and so they are not dependent upon state-run welfare or support programs.
Misconceptions About Women Paying Alimony
Because of television and movies, people are under the impression that men are the only ones who pay alimony. Women have been paying alimony since 1979 when the U.S Supreme Court ruled in a landmark decision that alimony should be gender-neutral. Another misconception about alimony is that men always have to pay it because they are the primary earners in a household. This myth could not be further from the truth, as more women are climbing up the workplace ladder.
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 28% of American women now earn more than their husbands. Furthermore, there are now 1.9 million stay-at-home dads, which has risen drastically since the 1970s. Men who were too scared to ask for alimony because of societal gender roles are no longer afraid to seek help. According to the last census in 2010, 3% of all alimony recipients were men, but that number has increased in the last decade.
Misconceptions About Women Paying Child Support
In the past, there were misconceptions that mothers always got full custody of their children and that fathers always had to pay child support. Times have certainly changed, and men today don’t always end up paying child support. This is especially the case if the father has primary custody of the minor children, and if they were not the breadwinners of the house. In some marriages, the woman works and brings home an income while the man stays home with the children.
If a woman is not a child’s primary custodial parent, she will be ordered to pay child support. Just like alimony, women paying child support has become a trend, with divorce lawyers seeing an increase in mothers who are ordered to pay child support.
Understanding how alimony and divorce can impact your financial future is difficult because it depends on your state’s laws. If you’re a resident of Utah who lives in the Salt Lake City area and needs an experienced divorce attorney, contact The Ault Firm today.