Divorce courts are commanded to determine what assets are martial and then divide them according to equitable distribution rules. They are then directed, specifically in regard to alimony, to determine if anything more needs to be done after a distribution of the assets. The trial judges are afforded considerable discretion in awarding alimony. In the recent case of Terrell v. Terrell, No. 2011-CA-01540-COA (7/16/13) the Court of Appeals affirmed an award of no monthly alimony to the unemployed wife of a doctor. They had been married for 22 years, and he was earning $350,000 per year. The Court concluded that since the wife was awarded one half of the estate, totaling $595,387.10 an award of no alimony was supportable by the evidence. The Court concluded by stating, “Alimony is not a bounty to which a spouse becomes entitled to receive indefinitely simply by reason of the that at one time she had been married to the other.” One has to wonder what image problem Mrs. Terrell suffered from in front of the trial judge and the Court of Appeals.
