Family Law Advisor®
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This is really a two part question. Payors of alimony often are concerned with reducing or eliminating alimony. Recipient spouses are usually concerned with increasing an alimony award. Reducing or Elimination an Alimony Award Alimony "terminates upon establishment by the party paying alimony that the former spouse is cohabitating with another person." Utah Code Ann. Section 30-30-5(9). Also, unless the parties' decree of divorce "specifically provides otherwise, any order of the court that a party pay alimony to a former spouse automatically terminates upon the remarriage of that former spouse. However, if the remarriage is annulled and found to be void ab initio, payment of alimony shall resume if the party paying alimony is made a party to the action of annulment and his rights are determined." Utah Code Ann. Section 30-3-5(8). In addition, if the receiving spouse's circumstances have changed (e.g., by reason of an increase in income or other financial resources), the court may consider such fact and lower an alimony award to allow the receiving party to maintain herself at a level not higher than the standard of living she enjoyed during the marriage or at the time of the divorce. Increasing an Alimony Award Under Section 30-3-5(7)(g)(ii), "the court may not modify alimony or issue a new order for alimony to address the needs of the recipient that did not exist at the time the decrees was entered, unless the court finds extenuating circumstances that justify that action." Furthermore, if the payer spouse remarries, the court may not consider the payer spouse's income in modifying an alimony award except as it relates to the new spouse's ability to share living expenses or if the payer spouse's improper conduct justifies consideration of the new spouse's income. Therefore, unless the receiving spouse has somehow lost her ability to satisfy the financial needs she had at the time of divorce (e.g., through the loss of a job), or unless extenuating circumstances otherwise justify an increase, an alimony award may not be increased. - - Law Offices of Greenwood & Black