Alimony in Washington DC can be awarded on a temporary and "rehabilitative" basis or on an indefinite basis. Rehabilitative means to restore a party to an economic functioning level, i.e. earning a reasonable living. The public policy is to assist the former spouse to be self supporting. If temporary alimony cannot bring about rehabilitation, then the court can, in proper circumstances, order alimony on a long-term or indefinite basis. Indefinite alimony can be raised or lowered over time if there is a change of circumstances. If you do not get alimony at the time of the divorce, you cannot get alimony later on.

Technically, husbands can get alimony from wives, but it almost never happens. Alimony is based upon the relative needs and resources of the parties. The legislature set out criteria for the court to consider and they include the following:

1. Ability of the party seeking alimony to be wholly or partly self-supporting.
2. Time necessary for the party seeking alimony to gain sufficient education or training to enable that party to secure suitable employment.
3. Standard of living that the parties established during their marriage but giving consideration to the fact that there will be two households to maintain.
4. Duration of the marriage.
5. Circumstances which contributed to the estrangement of the parties.
6. Age of each party.
7. Physical and mental condition of each party.
8. Ability of the party from who alimony is sought to meet his or her needs while meeting the needs of the other party.
9. Financial needs and financial resources of each party; including:
o income,
o income from assets,
o both marital and non-marital
o potential income which may be imputed to non-income producing assets of a party,
o any previous award of child support in this case,
o the financial obligations of each party,
o the right of a party to receive retirement benefits,
o and the tax-ability or non-tax-ability of income.


Living with someone after the divorce, regardless of whether you have sex or not, may cause indefinite alimony to be lowered or stopped. Death of one of the persons paying or receiving alimony or marriage of the person receiving alimony will terminate alimony unless the divorce settlement agreement provides otherwise.