The Case of the “remarried/unmarried” Wife:
Ex must still pay Spousal support
Here is an interesting point, seemingly contrary to the general rules
that once a party is remarried, the ex-spouse no longer has a spousal support
obligation. These parties were married in June 20091 and
separated February 2006. In 2007, the parties
entered into a stipulation providing for Husband to pay spousal support to Wife
in the amount of $32,547 per month and child support in the amount of $14,590
per month. A judgment of dissolution, as to status
only, was entered in 2008. (Status only
means they are divorced and can remarry, but some issues, like property, are still pending.)
In 2009, Husband filed an order to show cause application to
terminate spousal support, on the primary ground that Wife had remarried. That
sounds reasonable. Except that it wasn’t a “real”
marriage: Wife went through
a Jewish ceremony, wearing her wedding dress, and signed a Ketubah, a Jewish
marriage contract. But they did not get
a marriage license, so even though their children and the rabbi who presided
and the guests saw one take place. Typically, spousal support — or alimony, if you’re old school — stops when the receiving spouse remarries. Except Wife didn’t technically remarry her
new life partner. The ceremony may
have looked, felt, and quacked like a wedding (like a duck), but it was not a
wedding.
Husband asked the court to terminate his spousal support
obligations to Wife under a theory of quasi-estoppel, claiming he was entitled to rely upon Wife’s apparent remarriage. The trial court disagreed, and the appellate court found no error in the trial court’s
reasoning. Both courts relied on whether
a marriage license issued: if no marriage license issued, then it was not a
marriage.
