Alimony Paid In This Case

Question: How long do I have to pay alimony? I'm in California and was married for 19 years. The children are grown and I've been paying alimony for ten years. My ex lives very meagerly and doesn't have a very good job from what I can see. I plan to retire in about five years and my income will reduce about 50% when that happens. My ex is not dating and has no plans to remarry that I'm aware of. I'm thinking of waiting until I retire and then hiring an attorney to petition the court to eliminate my alimony payments. When I retire my ex and I will both share one of my pensions I'll be receiving from the employer I had when we were married. Will the court take my retirement income into consideration when deciding my case or is there a good possibility I could have my payments increased, further affecting my retirement income? Any expert advice would be appreciated.

Answer: Only the judge that ordered you to pay alimony can answer that question.

Question: How much I have to pay in alimony taxes? Me and my husband are divorcing. We agreed on $ 90.000 yearly alimony (him, paying me) but it turned out that i will receive after taxes and child support little over $ 40.000 a year. I don't think his numbers are right. Can somebody tell me how much I have to pay in taxes on that amount and is it child support that i have to pay calculated before or after taxes? I live in Pinellas County, Florida. Thank you

Answer: He will deduct the alimony and you will pay income tax at regular rates on what you receive. Child support can't be deducted by the payer and is not income to the parent receiving it.

Question: In the state of Florida, what can be done if alimony is not paid, just child support? i need to know if they can put someone in jail for not paying the alimony portion of the court order. the person lives in another counrty, will they go get him??? can he be arrested for only paying child support and not the alimony? HELP PLEASE!!!!! I need to know if they can put someone in jail for not paying the alimony portion of the court order. the person lives in another country, will they go get him??? can he be arrested for only paying child support and not the alimony? HELP PLEASE!!!!!

Answer: if he is in another country there is not much that can be done,

Question: Does anyone know how long if only married for 5 year would alimony have to be paid? We both have good jobs. ? I have been married for 5 years and my wife keeps threatening me with paying alimony. We both have good jobs. She actually make more then me. She has a college education and works full time. Our money is seperate. We each have our own savings, checking, and own credit cards. We paying into them and on them ourselves. We do have a joint checking for house payment and household bills. i have heard about so many laws. With being only married for 5 years can she even ask for it.

Answer: If you're in the US, depending on the state you live in, she probably can ask. Since *she makes more than you*, will she get it? No. In fact, the next time she brings it up, tell her you intend to ask the court to order her to pay you alimony (note: I'm not saying you should actually do that).

Question: If my husband and I divorce, will I have to pay alimony? My marriage is going really badly, only been married a few months. I make much more money than my husband even though I am in a lot of debt and struggling myself. If we get a divorce, will I have to pay alimony to him? We don't have any children. He is not an American citizen either. What will likely happen in this case? Would it be better to just separate for now?

Answer: http://www.divorceinfo.com/alimony.htm#CanIGetIt

Question: Who know if in tx a husband has to pay alimony? when he divorced his 13 years wife,she never work outside only a home,she do everything a home and if is Yes for how long he has to pay the alimony.

Answer: Thats up to the judge and the circumstances surrounding the divorce.

Question: Anyone think a serious relationship isn't worth it? I don't have a lot of experience in relationships in general, but from my observations (and from things I've heard and read) it seems like they just aren't worth the effort. First of all, I'll say that I'm not biased against women. I'm also not a homosexual. I'm not trying to be pessimistic here, I'm just saying how I feel about it currently. Btw, I'm 23 years old. What are the reasons people start a relationship to begin with? 1) Sex 2) Affection/Feeling like someone cares about you 3) Feeling like its something you should do because "everyone does it" 4) Not wanting to be lonely 5) Having someone to hang out with 6) Having some type of unspoken attraction, as in you just feel happier/whatever around that person 1) is a terrible reason (by itself) for being in a relationship. 2) Yeah I suppose some people want this, but I don't personally feel like someone else has to care about me for me to be happy 3) Terrible reason; purely a result of societal pressure 4) I can see this I guess. However, don't people have actual friends to do things with? 5) Again, this is easily solved by having what are called friends. 6) This does happen so I can't really say anything about it So, if you have friends (or even if you don't and you just find ways to enjoy yourself), and don't care about feeling desired or care about affection, then it goes back to 1). You want to have sex. Of course you don't have to be in a relationship for that to happen, but it is more likely. I said earlier that this reason alone was a terrible reason for a relationship. Also, it seems like people end up getting on each others nerves if they are in a relationship anyway. There are fights, idiotic arguments, etc. It also seems like people don't really do that much more when they are in a relationship. At least from what I see with my friends it ends up being that one person in the relationship concedes and does something with their girlfriend/boyfriend that they don't want to do. An example: a guy guilted into seeing a shitty romance movie, or a girl sitting on the couch bored out of her mind while her boyfriend plays a videogame. As far as serious relationships go, it seems like getting married is also very risky. I know tons of people who have had divorces and it seems that one person in the relationship always gets screwed. The divorce rate is about 50%, and one article I read said 90% of the time the woman initiates it. The other person ends up getting the house, or at the very least it ends up getting sold so that it can be split between them. Someone I know just got divorced and now his wife is living in the house and he is living with his damn mom, and he's about 40 years old. Then, in some cases you have to pay alimony. So not only does that person get their way by not being with you anymore buy you have to pay them money and still support them. I haven't even said anything about court costs and all the annoyance that comes with that. I'm not going to even go into the problems if you had children. Like I said, I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but just from all my experiences I personally don't see any truly compelling reasons to be involved in a relationship (except for sex, which is a terrible main reason) unless its a type of friendship The question is the title. Obvious. I wasn't telling anyone that getting married was stupid, or telling anyone what to do. What someone was saying about the statistics being skewed sounds interesting. I wonder what percentage get divorced if they are both "middle class", with no mental health issues and have dated each other for at least two years (and possibly have lived with each other). Now that would be interesting. Really though, is the thought of someone being with you for years, divorcing you and then taking your house and all your possessions (or at least half of them) not terrifying to anyone else? It would be different if people rarely got divorced, but it's pretty common. Some of the people I know that have been divorced were both very religious (not believing in divorce) and seemed like they got along very well. After 15 years though one leaves and their lives are both royally screwed. Weisen, you're an idiot. I'm sure you have never "wasted" time, right? Patty, the question is the title. It is quite obvious.

Answer: 6) Having some type of unspoken attraction, as in you just feel happier/whatever around that person What you are describing here is called love. I am with my mate because I cannot imagine life without her. She is an extension of who I am and I am happier because she is in my world. As you pointed out, all of those other reasons are easily taken care of by other means. But when this last one happens, you know it. I have had some really bad relationships. Those were not worth the trouble. In fact, if a relationship is too much work...you are right on. NOT worth it. But when a relationship enriches your life, it's not something to be avoided.

Question: What is the point of alimony? Why should men be required to pay for a woman after marriage? Why is it that we reward the woman for a failed marriage and punish the man? The days where women weren't able to be equals in the workplace/University are long and gone. It is a woman's fault if she enters a marriage with no skills to fall back on if it fails and depends solely on a man. She didn't plan out her life that well if that is the case. Nobody should ever put all the control of their life in another person's hands. For those that say its to keep her lifestyle that she currently possesses, then shouldn't the man get the sex he has become accustom to? I say if a man has to pay vaginamony for 10 years, he should get weekly payments of sex. In reality, they should just due away with this whole concept. Just another example of a sexist law discriminating against men. And yes I am aware there are some minority cases of women paying men. However, this is an extremely small percentage of all failed marriages and the exception to the rule.

Answer: I remember YOU.You actually posted before that you don't think men should pay on dates either.Whats wrong with you?You don't want to pay for dates and you don't want to pay alimony,yet you want sex.There's no free sex in the world. "shouldn't the man get the sex he has become accustom to? I say if a man has to pay vaginamony for 10 years, he should get weekly payments of sex."You have already gotten your so called weekly payments of sex when the marriage was still going well,in fact you might have gotten daily payments of sex when both of you still had a good relationship. "It is a woman's fault if she enters a marriage with no skills to fall back on if it fails and depends solely on a man.She didn't plan out her life that well if that is the case" This is really a very irresponsible thing to say.If the woman did not stay at home to take care of your kids and household chores,would you have been able to go out and work and strive on your career with a peace of mind?If the woman didnt stay home,you probably have had to employ a maid to take care of things at home and thats an extra cost as well.She saved that cost for you.Also,don't think you would give her alot of money when she stayed at home.She would only get a monthly sum of money just enough to cover for house bills with little leftover.Now that their husband has left,they do really need alimony to support themselves and the children. Oh ya,what about those wives that go out to work?When wives go out to work,they would chip in for house bills as well.I have heard of wives who spent most of their salary on housebills, whereby husbands spend their salary on their own beloved cars,go drinking,entertainment,etc.In cases like these,isn't the alimony well deserved by the woman?

Question: A debate about equal rights...? This isn't as much as a question as it is starting an intellectual debate. If by law women and man are equal, why does a man have to pay alimony? I have yet to see a case where a woman has to pay the man alimony, I think this is blatant sexism towards men having to pay up. Same goes for rape victims, it's all horrible and wrong when a man goes up raping a woman, but in the rare occurrence that the opposite happens, it's either waved off as ridiculous, or extra points for the dude getting raped by some chick. Answer me this, why do oranges smell like purple?

Answer: Men and women are not equal under the law, except in some states. The equal rights amendment was NOT passed. Alimony is not gender specific. It is paid by a higher wage earner to a lower wage earner. To the extent that it equalizes a situation where one parent was a stay-at-home mom or dad, to compensate them for the lack of career advancement during a marriage, alimony is proper. But in many cases it's improper, especially where both parents work. Most men don't ask for alimony because they're chivalrous.

Question: Husband is paying permanent alimony to woman who makes $55,000/year. How is this fair? My husband is paying his ex $1200/month in permanant alimony. I read that peramant alimony is very rare and only given if the marriage was long (it was) AND the wife has little or no reasonable employabilty. She has worked throughout their marraige and continues to do so. There are no minor children. She also got all their personal items when they divorced because my husband didn't want to fight over "stuff". When my husband got laid off last year (no fault of his own) one half of his unemployement check went to her. I understand alimony is reasonable under certain situations but what about when it is just WRONG! What kind of attorneys handle these cases? Any help would be appreciated! Boy JJ, wouldn't that be nice. The sad facts are that alimony laws are so biased towards women it is mind boogling. My husband wasn't even employed when they divorced, but they calculated his alimony by determing his "earning potential". They didn't even take into consideration he is over 50 and his earning potential isn't what it was when he was 30. Hey BJ, my husband-my business. If you are so into staying out of other people's business why are you giving your opinions instead of answering the questions that are asked?

Answer: sorry, but we dont have the full story here. What were the conditions of the divorce? At the time of the divorce, how much equity was earned between them? She could have received that alimony based on the reason that without "his" income, she now can't live the life that she lead while being married. And the judge in that divorce agreed, and set the alimony amount Your husband should have gone back to court when he fell on financial hardships to get the alimony amount changed. I suggest that you get your husband to look for a lawyer to help him out.

Question: My lawyer charge me unfairly, how can I get a detailed bill from him? At the beginning of my divorce case, the lawyer asked me to pay $1500 as case preparation fee and $350 as court fee, but there was no written contract about my case (This is my first time to use the lawyer, without any experience). During my case, all the bill I received from him are $250 for filling fee for docket No, and $150 for Summons served on my ex-husband by a sheriff. He never entioned the other $1100. On the court day, only me was scheduled to show up in the court, my husband had signed not to present on the court. When the lawyer came at 9:30am, the court said there was a document missing, which showed there was no marital property argument between us. This is a very normal document every divorce case need this but my lawyer forgot. We could divorce only if my husband signs this. Then I spend more than 1 hour to look for my ex-husband, since we have separated for 2 years and he changed all the phone numbers. My ex-husband spent about 40 minutes to drive to the court to sign the paper. When the court workers agreed to reopen my court, it was 12:30pm, the lunch time. So my divorce court reopened at 13:30pm, and everything was done in 10 minutes, we got the divorce paper. After the court, my lawyer called me to pay the 4 hours lawyer fee, 300 dollars/hours and 1200 dollors totally. I told him about his fault, and he asked me again to pay 2 and 1/4 hours court work with $200/hr besides the $1500 preparation fee, he said this include the discount of his fault. I told him I was scheduled the first one on the court day. If all the documents are done, my court time was less than 10 minutes to have everything done, so I think 1/2-1 hour is the reasonable court work time. Also, I kept asking him to show me a detailed bill about the other $1100 I have paid, he did not do this. I think I can get some preparation fee refunded even with the court work fee, because my case is very simple and he did not help me get anything from my ex-husband. He suggested me to have a uncontested process, giving up the alimony and everything, making the case easy and fast. So how can I get a detailed bill from him and have the rest of the preparation fee refunded? What would be the consequence if I do not pay this additional court work. This lawyer's office is in Mahatten, NY. Thanks a lot!

Answer: You ask, in writing. If he ignores your request then contact the "NY Legal Bar Association" and put a formal complain for misconduct and/or negligence (bring his license number to speed up things). The Bar will force him to "clear things up," if he refuses then he could lose his NY legal license. By the way: for an "uncontested divorce" (with no fighting) you could have done everything by yourself, without the need of wasting money on a lawyer you didn't need.

Question: Alimony Payments? I wet to cout today on my devorce and strang enough in this case I have to pay the wife $300.00 a month till it is final, about 6 months.But the judge told wife to pay the car payment + Ins on it+ she has to kept her company heath insurece on me till the divorce is final, So she came up about $500.00 short. It just dont make sence to me but I am glad it happen that way, has this happened to anyone before???? And do you think the suppot will stop at the end of all this.

Answer: The judge won't make the final decision until the final divorce hearing. A word of advice though, if the car payment is in your name or you are listed as a co-signer, contact the loan company immediately so your credit isn't ruined if she doesn't pay (or pays late).

Question: Can my ex-husband win this case? This may be a hard one to answer but i'll give it a shot..okay..here's the case..me and my ex-husband have joint legal custody of our 2 sons,now 13 and 17. When we divorced in 2002, he begged for me to give him paramount physical custody based on the fact he had not been able to spend time with them due to his deployments in the military. I agreed knowing that's what the kids wanted and agreed that he needed to get to know our children. Child support was set and so was visitation. He told me that he knew I wouldn't beable to pay the support but it is something that had to be put down on paper. Things were going well over the next few years and he even paid me support for the boys when he had to go back on deployment in 2004. In 2006, he got my permission to take the kids to CA for a year and a half and that's when things went downhill. He married a woman that treated my kids like crap. They wouldn't let me talk to the kids except on speakerphone so they could monitor it. I called the military, child protective services, and anyone else i could think of. Over the next few years, he divorced this woman, sent our boys to his mom for his next deployment, moved in with another woman who took care of them on the next deployment and finally left her to marry another woman 3 states away from me. My 13 year old is living with the new wife and he has my 17 year old in another state with him until he retires from the military and can move back with his wife...this year i was served with papers from him asking for contempt of court for non payment of child support, filing a false claim with child protective services and asking for supervised visitation! Kinda confused on how this is gonna go in court...first thing, he payed me support during his physical custody, denied my visitation, never payed my alimony, and didn't pay a bill he agreed to take in the divorce and they took my taxes for 4 years. Those two things total more than the amount of child support that I owe him! I have an attorney and all my evidence...just don't want to go to jail for the child support thing. Any advice would be great advice! I don't think i have the greatest attorney either..he never calls me back, court is 4 days and no calls from him either... but supposedly he's one of the best What to do with the children during deployments was never stipulated in the final divorce because his very last one was supposed to be in 2002..so he has had physical custody even during the deployments..he thought that gave him the right to decide what to do with the kids this has been a constant battle for me since the end of 2006 when he served me..court has been pushed back for so many years because of his deployments..we just now finally got a court date

Answer: I think the children are been through to much instability - why didn't you file for permanent custody? I think if you show that you HAVE paid the equivalent in monies to hims then you should be okay- but why doesn't your attorney file a contempt action against him?

Question: how to stop paying spousal support (Alimony) given 10 year rule? (California)? Was married between 2000 and 2009. (Please note child support is not an issue, this only relates to the SPOUSAL SUPPORT portion of the monthly payments). I have been divorced for over a year now, and I am trying to find out how to proceed with the paperwork in order to ask the court how long I am supposed to pay her, or request a termination of the Spousal Support payments. (I read all the rulings, and nowhere did I find that the Spousal payments should continue for the rest of life). Does anyone know the general steps for this? Forms, fees associated? I'd like to get started ASAP. With a general idea and a couple of forms, I would be glad to go confirm with a Pro-Bono attny just in case. Thanks for your advice, and experiences. (PS: San Joaquin County Family Law Court)

Answer: Unless you have a specific end date in your divorce papers, she is to get this until she re-marries or dies.

Question: In South Carolina, USA, should Lieutenant Governor Andre Bouer be above the law? He was just in a plane crash in upstate South Carolina. Lieutenant Governor Bauer drew attention earlier this year when the Associated Press found he had been stopped at least twice for speeding — once in December of 2005 and once in February — but was let off without a ticket. A normal citizen can't get this kind of royal treatment. Even the court system discriminates against white males. The courts even took out a warrant for the arrest of a man who lost a job due to injuries, and is unable to pay alimony. (no children). Is this life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Or, is this a case of judges being swayed by slick lawyers who have a father in the state senate?

Answer: Man can do anything with law because they've made it and they can change or make an exemption on it with or without law's ethics.Sometimes personal interest become first place and they don't care if their action can formed them into an immoral person. Nowadays, the similar case happened in many countries. It's a kind of moral corruption, tracing the root of problems maybe one of the solution but sometimes it is not work. This is not life, liberty or even a pursuit of happiness but this is a mental and moral degradation.

Question: When can I expect my divorce decree? Any good proffesional lawyers pls advice on the below: I was married on Apr 29th 2009.My wife was not in good terms with me & wanted a divorce which is done through a lawyer.Now finally the hearing date of my case is 2nd July & my lawyer has promised to get it done in this hearing.Now how long will it take for me to get the final decree from the court? Will anybody object for my 2nd marriage after I get the decree ?We have also paid alimony to her as per her wish & we have all the papers signed for everything we returned & they returned.In case the date goes by again,can I approach the judge with a special request to wind it up immediately? I'am an Indian & married under the Hindu Marriage Act.

Answer: Firstly you had engaged professional lawyer for the job who is supposed to explain you in details about the divorce proceedings, after what for he is paid for the job, just to prepare the petition and mark his presence in the Family court? Here it is the knowledge and experience of a lawyer counts which one should check before engaging him/her. Secondly you have not stated here what sort of divorce proceedings were initiated by you, whether it was joint petition for divorce by mutual consent, when at the time of filling, first motion took place where the joint statement of you both recorded in the family court and six months date give which is fixed for second motion on 2nd July, when you both once again appear in person in the family court make a joint statement again, and the Family Judge after being satisfied of the facts of your case allows the Petition for divorce thus dissolving your marriage by decree of divorce. on the same day this whole proceeding takes place, you can collect the certified copy of the judgement/decree within one week's time. Second scenario is that you had out of court agreement with your wife where you both agreed that one of you (in this case) file for divorce and other party (i.e.she) will not contest, this divorce petition is than decided by recording your ex-parte evidence, the marriage is dissolve by decree of divorce. In such case 2nd July may be fixed for recording your ex-parte evidence if already the Family court had ordered for proceeding ex-parte against her. In this case the recording of your evidence and finally deciding the divorce petition in your favor after going through your complete case file, the Family judge may decide the case within few days. The certified copy of the judgement/decree can be applied and collected within a week's time. The remarriage after obtaining the decree of divorce should be done after reasonable time as the other party has right to appeal against any judgement/decree of divorce, the appeal period under the Hindu Marriage Act,1955 is 90 days hence it is advisable to wait for 90 days from the date or judgement/decree of divorce. One should not go by this wrong assumption which many lawyers give that either of the parties involved in joint petition for divorce by mutual consent the right to appeal doesn't exist, this one should know even in judgement/decree under section 13 B HMA for divorce by mutual consent right to appeal exist to both parties.

Question: can a consent decree be challanged?after attaining the finality.? I got married in Feb 1995,out of the wedlock two children a girl and a boy were born.I am working as Sr.Engineer in Govt deptt.Due to unavoidable circumstances marriage could not last despite my best efforts.She is working in a govt deptt. as a teacher.I filed a petition U/S 13 HM act in Matrimonial court for divorce after her final desertion from the matrimonial home, leaving behind daughter age 6.5 years and son age 3.5 years with me and my ailing aged mother in 4/2002.During the pendency of petition in Matrimonial court u/s 13 filed by me in 6/2002(she didn`t file objections).after the reconciliation efforts failed,she approached me in January 2004 ,and proposed for moving a joint petition u/s 15 HM act for mutual consent with some of her conditions viz.alimony,property and custody of the children.On this a lawyer was consulted of her choice and a joint petition submitted in the court of distt.judge matrimonial ,who after examining both the petitioners,recorded statements in the court.Wife wanted the distt court to refer the case to Lok Adalat for immediate settlement as she wanted money/alimony and property.On the joint request of both ,the hon`ble judge after recording the statements on 21-1-2004 ,referred the case to Lok adalat,The case was listed on 27-1-2004 befeore the Lok Adalat comprising of the three judges of the rank of Principal and Session Judge and two other distt judges. Statements of both the parties recorded in the Lok Adalat,wife preferred alimony of Rs.4.00 lacs,share in my house,Did not prefer the custody of two minor children.Alimony was paid by me in cash before the court. Order was passed by the court and decree of divorce by mutual consent awarded.children to remain under care and custody of father only ordered by the court as mother had refused custody. After the settlement ,taking alimony,share,etc.having an after thought plan after 6-7 months filed a petition in Hon`ble High court against the Lok adalat decision. The writ/appeal was admitted in the High court and the decree awarded by the Lok adalat stayed on 8th.Oct 2004.And again the sinle judge after hearing the case in Oct 2005,passed the judgement after one year i.e in on 30th Oct 2006,and allowed the appeal/writ and refered back the matter to matrimonial court.Agrieved by the decision of the Sinle Judge of Hon`ble High Court,filed an appeal before te division bench f Hon`ble High court in Nov.2006. Please advise me what to do next. i. we are staying separately for the last 6.5 years. ii. Both the children are with me,as am the sole guardian as directed by the court.They are with me since 4/2002 and never been to mother.produced in the court before division bench and they refused to go with mother. How can i get justice plz advise soon. iii.I have been suffering badly on this account, as our case is not being taken seriously by the Lawyers of both the sides as the case is pending in the High court for the last 4.5 years.The worst sufferers are the children in our case.Their mother is also not serious about their future,rather she have been filling ill feelings in the minds of kids as and when she meets them in their respective boarding schools.she have creating scenes/drama in the schools,and forcibly tries to meet n snatch the children in front of all of their school mates,teachers and staff, resulting the kids are embarrassed, feel insulted and disturbed thus adversaly affecting their studies/future. Please advice me what to do in these circumstances. She has also moved an application/CMP in the High Court recently for custody of children during winter break/holidays.Can she get this custody without taking the consent of children? Please Advice soon A senior and a reputed lawyer of J&K state has been engaged by me , but still the matter is pending in the division bench of Hon`ble HIgh court. Please help me out soon.

Answer: Can you find someone who will advise on a pro-bono situation? can you get rid of your lawyer and get one that specializes in divorces for men only?

Question: Help Me with This Tough Choice.? I have been working for the same company for 15 years now. I am very well respected, considered the best at my position, and am scheduled to interview soon for a promotion. The catch is, I have 2 felonies from before I even started working there- credit card fraud, and uttering false documents. Currently, I am in a Union position. The promotion means leaving the Union. I would hate for them to find out later, only to get fired. I am in the retail business, with a company that has 180 stores in 4 states. It wouldn't even look right from an outside perspective that this company have a felon running one of their stores. I'm thinking of just declining the interview. I know the offenses were from 15 + years ago, but I think it will matter to them. This company has changed hands twice since I started with them. I've worked too long and too hard to lose my house and destroy my marriage, not to mention probably have a hard time finding another job, and not making what I'm making now either. I know I did the crime, fortunately, there was no jail time, just restitution and community service. I live pretty comfortably and have a secure job, and am well- respected. Perfect credit now, I did file bancruptcy in '94 With the internet nowadays, it's too easy to pry into anothers' life. I looked myself up on the states free court case board, and there I was........ FREE, didn't pay a cent. Didn't have to walk into the courthouse. Just for kicks, I looked up some people at work, and saw all the info from their divorces and bancruptcies, how much they had to pay alimony and such. It was sickening. I always thought in the back of my mind, that short of murder, a background screening company would go back 10-12 years at the most, but I don't even see why they would need one of the companies if they can go right to the state. At the time I was hired, I hadn't been convicted yet, so I didn't disclose that info. I think I'm going to play it safe, and keep what I have. I was thinking of telling them in the interview my reasons for not moving forward just to see what they say, but either way, they are going to be let down, and I don't know what good it will do for them to know my business. I guess when all this happened (when I was 21) I was in debt up to my neck, got fired from my job, (had a motorcycle accident, missed too much time), and took risks that didn't pay out. It really has shaped who I am, and I have been clean ever since. I was so disgusted with myself after this all went down 15 yrs ago, that I soon after had a vaesectomy, thinking I couldn't possibly be a good role model. 15 years later, I'm disgusted with myself all over again.

Answer: First of all, congratulations on moving up in the world. Going from a convicted felon to a well-respected employee is an amazing feat that I think deserves recognition. Now, on to business. You are in a very interesting dilemma. My gut instinct would be to just interview for the new job, but there's something holding me back. I think it's the recession. I don't know what your current financial situation is, but it would be good to have a year's worth of money set in a savings account that you could draw from if you get rejected. I therefore suggest waiting until the recession is over or waiting until you have a year's salary put away in an account somewhere, whichever comes first. Good luck!

Question: What is the reasoning behind the alimony laws? Every law has to make sense on some level. It's illegal to kill because people can't just kill each other, you can get killed too. It's illegal to do insider trading because this is unfair to others, etc. But what is the reasoning behind alimony? Why one spouse has to support another after divorce? For years I heard this explanation: "Because less wealthy spouse got accustomed to the lifestyle". I have a problem with this explanation: what if I get accustomed to the lifestyle enabled by my high salary and the company lays me off? Shouldn't they also keep paying me the salary indefinitely after layoff? But now I was shocked to learn that it's a common thing when people file for alimony over 15 years after divorce: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703399204574505700448957522.html What would be the reasoning for alimony in this case? Just to keep people off the public support in any way possible? Does majority of people really support alimony laws? Do they make sense to anybody? To daughter_of_God: Husband provides financial support for the family. Wife provides her time. If she had great job skills she can go work and hire babysitters. If she doesn't have skills she sits at home and this is her contribution. How come husband's financial contribution is less valuable than wife's tie contribution? Doesn't make sense. Also alimony isn't legally tied to kids at all. Please don;t confuse alimony and child support. They are totally different. People without kids pay alimony just the same way.

Answer: To help support former spouses (male or female). If U as sole breadwinner provided all the income to a family unit during marriage, then upon divorce, a portion or even the division of your income occurs to help maintain equity. Everyone knows that two can live cheaply together, but when two live separately the costs are compounded (two rents, electric bills, etc.) so the shared burden comes out of alimony payments, usually to the partner least capable of supporting themselves, either temporarily or permanently. Best of luck to U in the future!!!

Question: Sharia law in a muslim country? I would like to know what is the law in a muslim country when a non muslim man converts to islam so that he can take advantage of the islamic sharia law to his advantage. The man is hindu married to non muslim but now he would like to convert to islam so that he does not have to pay alimony and have two wives. Originally married under the indian marriage act. Does this mean that the sharia law will apply now that he has converted? Doesn't the original law apply ie the law of indian marriage act to the woman. Which law would apply to the non muslim first wife? Under what basis can she fight her case? The husband is having an affair with a muslim lady in a muslim country. Is it true that he can easily divorce his first wife and pay only for three months of maintainence? Is it easy to convert to islam?

Answer: Ok lady to tell you the fact this Hindu man must have married to this Muslim lady according to the Special Marriage Act,1954 the Indian law that is applicable to all Indians who want to do inter-religious marriage as he has done. Now even if he converts to Islam & wants to use the benefits of the Sharia law he cant do this to the extend of getting a second wife during the existence of the pervious one, either he takes divorce from the first one as provided in the Special Marriage Act or according to the common law (civil law)applicable in the country he stays now (if not in India) but that divorce will be valid only if both agree for getting divorce according to the common law otherwise only under the Special Marriage Act. If he converts & marry second time without getting divorce from his first wife he will be liable for bigamy & can face punishment upto seven year’s imprisonment & fine too. He cannot take the plea of Sharia law applicable to Muslims in such a case. The Supreme Court had clearly held such a conversion only as a plea for remarriage to prevent the charges of bigamy hence even after such conversion he has to undergo the process of divorce from his first wife if he wants to marry again. He won’t be able to give divorce to his first wife so easily according to Sharia law even after his conversion as he married as a Hindu according to civil law as I stated above. At the time of divorce he has to pay maintenance & alimony according to the same law according to which he got married. For any further clarification write to me directly.