In recent years, I’ve seen an increase in cases involving women earning the lion’s share of the family income, and then having to pay spousal support to their spouse.
It has been reported that more than 53% of married-couple families had earnings from both the wife and the husband. Not only that, but women are increasingly becoming the breadwinners in their families. According to the Center for American Progress, in 2019, two-thirds of mothers were either breadwinners or co-breadwinners for their families.
It follows, then, that it’s become increasingly more common that in a divorce, women end up paying the spousal support.
Here’s what you need to know about spousal support, equitable distribution and other financial considerations during divorce, particularly if you are a woman and also the high-earning spouse.
Income is a fundamental aspect of finances that will help determine spousal support or “maintenance,” formerly known as “alimony.” These terms refer to the monthly support that the court can order to be paid in addition to child support, if applicable, to ensure the more financially dependent spouse will have sufficient funds to meet expenses after the divorce. The duration of post-divorce maintenance is based upon the length of the marriage and other factors including but not limited to the age and health of each spouse and their present and future earning capacity, whether one spouse will have to incur education or training expenses to become employed, issues of domestic violence, the standard of living established during the marriage, how much in assets the spouses will receive and the income that can be attributed from those assets, and whether one spouse contributed to the building of the other spouse’s career. Generally, the longer a couple is married, the longer the spouses will likely either receive or pay maintenance.
Negotiating maintenance requires an in-depth understanding of the couple’s finances and a clear understanding of nuanced spousal support laws. High-earning female clients have a few key financial factors to consider during divorce proceedings.
Consider the second shift.
Income earned should not be the only factor considered when making financial determinations in a divorce settlement. The reality is that breadwinning women are often also left with a disproportionate amount of household work. As women have entered the workforce in record numbers over the last fifty years, a paradigm shift has begun to take place in the home. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild calls this “the second shift,” and argues that as a society we are in a stalled revolution. Hochschild explains that while women have revolutionized the workforce, “the workplace they go into, the men they come home to,” and the government policies they are subject to – like a lack of paid parental leave, paid family medical leave, or subsidized childcare – “have changed less rapidly, or not at all.”
According to the Journal of Family Issues, the more economically dependent that men are on their wives, the less housework they do.
Between the second shift that’s required at home and the study revealing the correlation between financially dependent men and more housework left for women, female breadwinners seeking a divorce are often forced to juggle greater burdens, financial and otherwise.
This reality should absolutely be considered when dividing up the marital pot but the reality is that sometimes it isn’t. I would argue that these women should receive a greater share of equitable distribution due to their greater proportion of contributions to the family unit.
Inflation, inflation, inflation.
As a matrimonial and family law attorney, I now counsel clients to utilize the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as the standard of whether to decrease or increase spousal support in the future. What does that mean? Once you have determined the base amount of support, then your client should be sure to include a provision allowing for the increase or decrease of support annually based upon the CPI. The CPI is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For example, a recent report, New York Metro area prices are up 6.5 percent over the year. As we continue to deal with inflation, hoping that the worst is behind us, it can certainly be expected that prices will change again, perhaps begin to fall, sometime in the future. This indicates that the amount needed for spousal support might be significantly greater now than it was just a short time ago, and in the months and years ahead, we could see that amount lessen over time.
If you will be paying spousal maintenance, it may be wise to ensure that the base amount is recalculated each year on a fixed date – perhaps the anniversary of the agreement – with a close consideration of the change in the CPI. This would keep your client from paying high inflation-level spousal support well after prices have begun to deflate.
Holistic financial considerations.
When you are a high-earning woman seeking a divorce, your must consider the dynamics present both within the home and in the greater economic climate.
Ensuring you get a fair financial deal will require a smart and holistic consideration of your contributions, through a financial and a relational lens.