You Can Probably Still Get Alimony, Even with a New Spouse
Video Transcribed: In Oklahoma, do I still pay alimony if my ex gets remarried? I’m James Wirth, an attorney in Tulsa, and that’s the question that we have.
Deals with spousal support in Oklahoma and what our grounds are to terminate it. And the question is if the ex gets remarried, are they still entitled to spousal support? And that is a question that’s actually pretty clear and answered by statute. It’s Title 43, Section 134, Subsection B, and I can read what it provides. It says, “The court shall also provide in the dissolution of marriage decree that upon the death or remarriage of the recipient, the payments of support, if not already accrued, shall terminate.”
So yes, remarriage is grounds for automatic termination of spousal support. However, if everybody is aware, the recipient is aware that getting married is going to cause their spousal support to stop, and their alimony to stop, which might cause a delay in their getting married. So there’s also a provision in Subsection C there, which notes that voluntary cohabitation of a member of the opposite sex in a relationship is grounds to modify. It’s not automatic termination like remarriages, but it’s grounds to modify. However, you have to be very proactive on that because the case law is pretty strict and you need to get into court very quickly on that. If all of the spouse support accrues before you actually get the hearing, then retroactive modification may not be possible on that.
So that’s something that you’ll want to look into. But to answer the question, does remarriage terminate spouse support? It does automatically by statute and should be by the decree pursuant to the statute saying it needs to be in the decree. However, if the recipient knows that, they may put off getting married and just cohabitating, in which case it is not automatic termination. But it is grounded where you can modify to terminate or lower spouse support if that cohabitation is going on and if that means that there have been circumstances that the circumstances of the need of the other party have changed, so file for that modification.
So if you’re dealing with a circumstance, you’re going to want specific advice from an Oklahoma divorce lawyer that you can get only after private consultation. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
