Alimony & Spousal Support

Spousal support, or alimony, is based on an outdated social tradition that it is a man’s responsibility to support women because they are weaker, incapable of being equal to men, and better equipped to raise children. However, this is not the case in today’s society and our alimony laws need to be changed to reflect modern times.

Spousal support traces its roots back to a time when divorce was considered rare and indissoluble. As a result, a husband and wife remained married even after they had been physically separated. Since the marriage was permanently binding, a husband still maintained a financial obligation to his wife, even if they didn’t live together. This is the reason why spousal support is almost always associated with a payment made from an ex-husband to his ex-wife, regardless of the living situation.

Many avenues were explored while looking for the best possible way to achieve social change. Since spousal support laws vary from state to state, my concentration became the State of California. I began by searching the Library of Congress Thomas database, looking for any legislation currently pending. Unfortunately, the few items I found had already died in various stages of development and no other legislation was in the pipeline. Next I attempted to contact United States Congressman John E. Sweeney of the 20th Congressional District. Congressman Sweeney is one of the only governmental actors to author spousal support legislation. After many messages, emails and voicemails without return, I decided to cease pursuing this path. Finally, I decided to contact as many non-governmental organizations as I could. However, only a handful of groups actually returned my phone calls and emails. Alliance for Freedom of Alimony served as my primary source for information because they provided the most detail on the topic.

Beginning by reviewing the class text, David Friedrichs and Gerald Rosenberg gave a jumping off point for my research. Both tackle social injustice and change in their textbooks, however each author has their own unique take on the issue. Friedrichs discusses in his book “Law In Our Lives”,