What is alimony?
When a divorce is finalized the court may order either party to pay money to the other. These payments may be periodical or a lump sum. This is called alimony and it may be ordered for rehabilitative (transitional) purposes or for support (aka maintenance) and it may be either temporary or permanent. The imposition of alimony varies from state to state.
What is the 13th amendment?
The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution: (Ratified December 6, 1865)
Section 1. Neither Slavery, nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
What is involuntary servitude?
INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE & PEONAGE - a condition of compulsory service or labor performed by one person, against his will, for the benefit of another person due to force, threats, intimidation or other similar means of coercion and compulsion directed against him.
In considering whether service or labor was performed by someone against his will or involuntarily, it makes no difference that the person may have initially agreed, voluntarily, to render the service or perform the work. If a person willingly begins work but later desires to withdraw and is then forced to remain and perform work against his will, his service becomes involuntary.
Source: http://www.lectlaw.com/def/i071.htm
What is the "Equal Protection clause"?
The "equal protection clause" is contained in section 1 of the 14th amendment to the US constitution:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Many people believe that some divorce orders violate the spirit, if not the letter of the equal protection clause.
Do divorce laws vary much from state to state?
Yes. The following link will bring you to a page that contains links to divorce laws in all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Divorce.htm
Why is only one ex-spouse ordered to continue providing to the other?
This is a mystery to logical thinkers. In most marriages the participants make different contributions. In a traditional marriage the husband earns the money to support the family while the wife bears children and stays home to rear them while performing domestic duties. When such a marriage dissolves it is not uncommon for the husband to be ordered to continue part of his former contribution to the ex-wife in the form of monetary support, aka alimony. But what of the ex-wife? Should she not then be ordered to continue part of her former contribution to her ex-husband? Cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, something? Anything? A foolish suggestion? Perhaps, but is it any more foolish than to suggest the ex-husband should continue supporting his ex-wife with alimony? A woman to whom he is not related and to whom he owes no debt?
Should the equal protection clause come into play here?
How bad can it get?
There are countless stories about the extent to which court-ordered divorce settlements have ruined people's lives but to my knowledge none can top the sorry affair of H. Beatty Chadwick.
The Associated Press
November 13, 2007
MEDIA, Pa. -- A suspended Delaware County attorney accused of hiding $2.5 million from his ex-wife is asking for Thanksgiving and Christmas furloughs from his nearly 13 years of imprisonment on a civil contempt charge.
No claim is made here that Mr. Chadwick was the perfect husband, or even a good one. But could you ever have imagined that here, in the United States of America, a man could be held in prison for nearly 13 years without having been accused, tried, and convicted of a crime? No, a judge has ordered this man held for this period over a divorce settlement dispute.
The time has come for the reform of divorce laws and the abolishment of alimony!
Disclaimer:
Nothing on this Web site, nor anything found through the links published on this Web site, is intended as legal advice and it should not be construed as such. If you are in need of legal advice it is important that you seek the counsel of a qualified attorney.