Does Alimony Stop if I Start Living with Someone New?

If your budget depends on receiving a monthly alimony payment from your ex-spouse, moving forward with your life can be difficult. When a new romantic relationship starts to get serious, the decisions you make can affect when and how you will stop receiving spousal support. Here’s some information about whether alimony stops if you start living with someone new or get remarried.

How Long Does Alimony Last in Maryland?

Alimony, sometimes called spousal support or spousal maintenance, is not automatic in every Maryland divorce. It is up to the Court to award alimony based on the specific circumstances in your case. (You can read the factors a court considers in awarding alimony here.) You and your former spouse can also agree on an alimony award as part of your separation agreement or marital settlement agreement. Generally, these agreements will be adopted and enforced by Maryland courts.

When alimony is awarded:

• On a temporary basis while the divorce is ongoing (Pendente lite alimony)
• For a set period of time after the divorce is final (Rehabilitative alimony)
• On an ongoing basis after the divorce is final (Indefinite alimony)

In each case, the alimony award will specify how much the supporting spouse (the payor) must pay to the dependent spouse (the payee), and how often. For rehabilitative alimony, it will also say for how long (i.e. 12 months or 5 years). You could also agree on a total amount to be paid over a set period of time.

Reasons Spousal Support Can End

Under Maryland law, alimony generally ends one of five ways:

• The payor pays off the full amount of alimony awarded
• The term of periodic alimony payments expires
• The payor dies
• The payee gets remarried
• The court find termination of alimony necessary “to avoid a harsh and inequitable result”

You and your spouse can agree to change some of these as part of your separation agreement or divorce negotiations. Others, like the death of the payor, are set by law. But, can you get around the “remarriage” issue just by living with your partner instead of tying the knot?

Will Maryland Cohabitation End Your Alimony Payments?

The Maryland courts have said that alimony orders that end on “the marriage of the recipient” mean that literally. They don’t extend to “marriage-type relationships” like living with a person or cohabiting together. In the Maryland case, Mendelsohn v Mendelson, the court said that termination due to remarriage means “undergoing a ceremony and obtaining a marriage license.” This means, without a legal marriage, your alimony will not stop if you start living with someone new based on remarriage language in your spousal support order.

However, many Maryland divorce attorneys have started adding some extra language to their divorce orders and domestic agreements. In addition to the death of the payor and remarriage of the payee, your prenuptial agreement, post-nuptial agreement, settlement agreement or Judgment of Absolute Divorce may list cohabitation with a romantic partner as a reason to terminate alimony. Read your documents carefully, and talk to your divorce attorney if you are unsure if this applies to you.

In Gordon v Gordon, the parties agreed that the wife’s alimony “shall also terminate in the event the Wife resides with an unrelated man without the benefit of marriage for a period continuing for beyond sixty (60) consecutive days.” The Maryland Court of Appeals said that language was enforceable, but applied a more definite term of “cohabitation” than merely maintaining a sexual relationship or living with someone new after the marriage ended. The Court defined cohabitation as a “mutual assumption of the duties and obligations associated with marriage” including:

• Living together
• Maintaining a long-term romantic relationship
• Shared assets or bank accounts
• Joint contribution to household expenses
• Public acknowledgment of the relationship

This means that if you start living with someone new, your ex-spouse will have to do more than show a copy of your lease to prove that your alimony should be terminated.

Can My Ex Modify Spousal Support Due to Cohabitation?

Notice that alimony can be modified by court order after your judgment of divorce is entered. Even if your alimony award doesn’t include cohabitation language, your ex-spouse may seek to modify alimony based on the fact that you are living with someone new, often arguing that your expenses are lower because you are sharing them with someone else. In these cases, merely living together won’t be enough to modify your spousal support award. Instead, your ex-spouse will need to prove that both parties’ financial situations make it necessary to modify the existing alimony payments to avoid a “harsh and inequitable result.”

At the Law Office of Shelly M. Ingram, our Maryland divorce lawyers know how important consistent alimony payments can be for the future of our clients. We know when and how alimony will end, and what to do if your ex-spouse tries to modify alimony payments because you start to live with someone else. If you need help protecting your financial security, call us at (301) 658-7354 or contact us online to schedule a confidential consultation with an attorney.