Retirement Does Not Always End Alimony

Most people assume that once the traditional retirement age approaches, alimony will end.  While 65 has been quoted in many cases as a good faith retirement age, such does not automatically equate a stop to an alimony obligation.

In the recent unreported  decision of Smith v. Smith, the parties had been married forty years before divorcing in 1999. At the time of the divorce the husband was a truck driver earning $90,000 per year.  His alimony was reduced twice after the divorce when he lost his job.  The wife worked as a retail clerk.  The parties were in their 70s when the case most recently came before the court on the ex-wife's motion to collect her alimony arrears and the ex-husband's cross application to terminate his support obligation based on his inability to obtain employment given his age and various health issues.