Boston Lawyer Gabriel Cheong recently posted an article about how alimony is calculated in a divorce. Mr. Chong mentions that this is a very common legal question that he encounters. In fact, it is a common questions that our users ask here on lawfiles.net.

To answer the question, Mr. Cheong cites the Massachusetts divorce statute. This statute lists the following factors that the courts are to consider in establishing alimony:

1. Length of the marriage
2. Conduct of the parties during the marriage
3. Parties’ age
4. Parties’ health
5. Parties’ station in life
6. Parties’ occupation
7. The parties’ source and amount of income
8. Parties’ vocational skills
9. The parties’ employability
10. The parties’ estate
11. The liability of each party
12. The parties’ individual needs
13. The chance of future acquisition of the parties
14. The parties’ respective contribution, preservation and appreciation to the marital assets
15. Whether one of the parties was a homemaker

These factors are representative of the alimony statutes found in many other common law states. For example, the Colorado statute provides the following factors:

1. The financial resources of the party seeking maintenance, including marital property apportioned to such party, and the party’s ability to meet his or her needs independently, including the extent to which a provision for support of a child living with the party includes a sum for that party;
2. The time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking maintenance to find appropriate employment and that party’s future earning capacity;
3. The standard of living established during the marriage;
4. The duration of the marriage;
5. The age and the physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance; and
6. The ability of the spouse from whom maintenance is sought to meet his or her needs while meeting those of the spouse seeking maintenance.