By Carol G. Cooper, Esq.
Carol G. Cooper, Esq., a family law attorney in Baltimore with the law firm of Gordon Feinblatt LLC, answers some commonly asked questions regarding alimony and property awards.
Question: My spouse committed adultery. Does that mean I am entitled to alimony or a larger share of the marital property?
Answer: Despite how devastating it can be for a person to discover their spouse is cheating, adultery is only one of 12 factors a judge considers when awarding alimony. Those factors according to Maryland law are:
1. The ability of the spouse seeking alimony to be wholly or partly self-supporting;
2. The time necessary for the spouse seeking alimony to gain sufficient education or training to enable him or her to find suitable employment;
3. The standard of living the couple established during their marriage;
4. The marriage’s duration;
5. Each spouse’s monetary and nonmonetary contributions to the family’s well-being;
6. The circumstances that contributed to the couple’s estrangement (e.g., adultery);
7. Each spouse’s age;
8. Each spouse’s physical and mental condition;
9. The ability of the spouse from whom alimony is sought to meet his or her own needs while meeting the needs of the spouse seeking alimony;
10. Any agreement reached by the couple;
11. Each spouse’s financial needs and resources, including:
- All income and assets, including all property that does not produce income;
- Any monetary award concerning property and award of possession and use of the family property;
- The nature and amount of each spouse’s financial obligations; and
- The right of each spouse to receive retirement benefits; and
12. Whether the award would cause a paying spouse or a spouse who is a resident of a care facility to become eligible for medical assistance earlier than would otherwise occur.
Although no single factor is more important than another, adultery, under Factor 6, is not generally given great weight in determining alimony unless the adulterous behavior was really outrageous. Keep in mind that a judge may not be convinced that a spouse’s adultery was the only, or even the primary, reason for the estrangement of the parties.
With regard to a marital property, the judge must consider 11 similar factors, among them, the circumstances that contributed to the couple’s estrangement. Again, adultery is typically not given as much weight as the other financial factors.
Also, if adultery occurs after a couple separates, it is still considered grounds for a divorce but has almost no bearing on the determination of alimony or property, because the adultery did not contribute to their estrangement.
Question: My spouse and I have kept our finances separate throughout our marriage. We have separate bank accounts and none of our assets are jointly titled. Does this mean there is no “marital property”?
Answer: No. Under Maryland law, marital property is property acquired during the marriage, regardless of how titled, unless the property was acquired by gift or inheritance or is directly traceable to a nonmarital source.
The first step a judge takes is determining what the marital property is. If, for example, the husband has $500,000 in assets in his name and the wife has $1,000,000 in assets in her name, and all of those assets were acquired during the marriage (not by gift or inheritance), then the marital property is worth $1.5 million. As a result, the husband will likely be entitled to an award, so each person receives roughly half.
Maryland law calls for an “equitable” division, which judges often interpret as “equal.” In determining the amount of the monetary award, the judge must consider all of the applicable statutory factors.
Finally, with the exception of retirement and pension benefits, property titled in one spouse’s name alone cannot be transferred by a judge to the other spouse. Other transfers can only occur by agreement.
Carol G. Cooper, Esq. is a family law lawyer in Baltimore with the law firm of Gordon Feinblatt LLC. She can be reached by calling 410-576-4122 or emailing ccooper@gfrlaw.com.
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