As more men stay home with the children and women take active roles in the workplace, alimony trends are shifting. Statistics show that more and more men have begun to receive alimony from their former wives. Since 2006, the number of former husbands that receive alimony from their wives has risen by 3.6%.
Husbands Can Get Alimony Too
Traditionally, alimony is seen as the payments a husband would make for a wife in order to compensate for loss of employment due to raising children or supporting the husband's career. However, the nature of families is changing, and as more husbands stay home while their wives are the primary financial supporters, the way the court views alimony payments must change too.
Reasons why husbands should seek alimony include:
- Taking time off from their career in order to stay at home and raise the children while their wives worked to support the family
- Sacrificing advances in their career so their wife could advance hers, such as not taking a promotion or cutting back hours
- Holding back from educational opportunities to support the wife in her career
Many men do not realize they are able to ask for alimony due to prevailing bias that assumes men should be the higher-earners in a family. Further, some courts are unwilling to grant men alimony due to the traditional idea that men should be self-sufficient.
As more women earn higher annual incomes, it is only likely that husbands earning less will seek alimony in the divorce process. Men that earn less than their spouses deserve alimony payments following a divorce to ensure they are able to get back on track.
For any questions about, or problems with, receiving alimony, contact Claery & Hammond today!