An interesting new case, Harris v. Harris, was released recently from the Tennessee Court of Appeals on the modification of alimony when the recipient, in this case the Wife, remarried. When the parties were divorced, the parties shared joint custody of their daughter, and the Husband was ordered to pay Wife transitional alimony of $4,000 a month for four years.

Six months after the divorce, the Wife remarried and began living with her new husband and his four children. The first Husband petitioned the court to reduce or terminate the alimony payments.

At hearing the Wife, a physician, showed that she was starting a new job that paid $95,000 a year but that her monthly deficit was $1,300, even with her new husband’s annual income of $75,000. They shared expenses, she paid rent, utilities and part of the household expenses, including those of all the children.

At hearing the Husband showed Wife had purchased autos, a horse, a new home and gone on vacations. The Court found that Wife still needed alimony. The amount of alimony was reduced to $1,500 per month but the Court left the order in place for an additional three years of payments.

Photo: striatic