Millennials are marrying and starting families much later in life. Many who do decide to start a family skip matrimony altogether. Of the couples who get married, prenuptial agreements have become far more common than among previous generations. Alimony is one of the fears many have about a possible divorce.
In 2015, CBS Los Angeles reported that one California man set out to lobby against awarding spousal support without time restrictions for marriages that lasted for 10 years or more. In the man’s personal case, an expensive and antagonistic divorce led to monthly payments of $1,000 to an ex-wife who has not remarried.
Arguments against alimony
He pointed out that lawmakers drafted spousal support laws when women did not work. Now, women make up half the work population, if not more. He believed women used the opportunity to get free money, especially when they already worked. When it came to women who did not work, he advocated for addressing those instances on a case-by-case basis.
Recent updates on his efforts
Late last year, the Los Angeles Times reported that the man was still trying to lobby the government to make changes to the policy. He did, however, relax his original proposal of alimony for only one year and extended it to five years, following a divorce. The petition to make this change required an excess of 630,000 signatures. At the time the LA Times published the article, only 2,000 people signed the petition.
Ironically, the man believes the money spent on an expensive divorce would have better served his daughter’s education. Yet, he spends resources attempting to retain a petitioning company to get more signatures. Some might commend his persistence. Others might argue that these resources might have also better served his daughter’s education and his personal financial stability.
