Premier Legal Representation: New Jersey Alimony Lawyers

Protecting Your Income and Your Standard of Living After Divorce

Alimony decides what your life looks like for the next five, ten, or twenty years. Our New Jersey alimony lawyers have argued those numbers in the Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester County family courts for decades, on both sides of the table. We represent the spouse who stepped back from a career to raise a family, and the spouse now being asked to fund two households on one income.

Ron Graziano opened this practice in 2003, after nearly three decades litigating in South Jersey courtrooms. Twenty-three years later it is one of the largest family law groups in the region, and the only thing it does is family law. The first phone consultation is free.

What Our Clients Say About Our Services

A friend recommended Graziano & Flynn for my divorce settlement, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I had the pleasure of working with Robyn and her entire team, and I always felt confident in their hands. Robyn was incredibly supportive and readily available whenever I needed assistance.

Kristin S.

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How an Alimony Case Moves Through New Jersey Family Court

Alimony is decided in the Family Part of the Superior Court, on a sequence set by court rule. The court’s goal is to dispose of a contested divorce within twelve months of the complaint, though support issues often run longer.

Filing and temporary support

Alimony must be pled in the Complaint for Divorce or the counterclaim. Either spouse can then move for pendente lite support while the case is pending, and under Mallamo those temporary awards can be adjusted retroactively at final judgment.

The Case Information Statement

Rule 5:5-2 requires it within 20 days of the answer, with tax returns and pay records attached. Its budget schedules become the evidence of the marital standard of living, which Crews requires the judge to make a specific finding on.

Discovery and experts

Document demands and depositions establish what each spouse actually earns. A forensic accountant comes in when a business is involved, a vocational expert when imputed income is disputed.

Settlement panel, then mediation

Financial issues go to a panel of matrimonial attorneys for a non-binding recommendation, and to economic mediation if that does not resolve them. Most alimony disputes end at one of these two stages.

Trial and after

A judge awarding alimony must address the statutory factors on the record and explain the type, amount, and duration chosen. Any later modification requires a prima facie showing of changed circumstances under Lepis v. Lepis before the court will order financial discovery.

New Jersey Alimony Laws

The September 2014 alimony reform eliminated permanent alimony, capped duration for shorter marriages, and made retirement a defined off-ramp. Orders predating it may still fall under the old rules. Which of the five types applies depends on the length of the marriage and each spouse’s finances.

The Five Types of Alimony in New Jersey

Pendente lite alimony is temporary support while the divorce is pending. It ends at final judgment and is replaced by whatever the judgment provides.
Open durational alimony replaced permanent alimony in 2014 and is generally reserved for marriages of 20 years or longer. It has no fixed end date, but it is not lifetime alimony: it remains open to modification and termination.
Limited duration alimony runs for a set term, which for marriages under 20 years generally cannot exceed the length of the marriage.
Rehabilitative alimony funds a specific plan to return to work, such as a degree or certification, and requires a realistic timeline.
Reimbursement alimony repays a spouse who supported the other through school or training and never saw the return.

How Alimony Affects Your Taxes

For divorces finalized on or after January 1, 2019, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the federal deduction. The payor cannot deduct alimony federally and the recipient does not report it as federal income.

Unlike most TCJA provisions, this one does not sunset. New Jersey did not follow it either, so at the state level alimony stays deductible to the payor and taxable to the recipient. Earlier orders keep the old federal treatment unless modified, which is why no number should be agreed to before it is run after tax.

How Alimony Is Calculated in New Jersey

There is no formula. Unlike child support, which runs off state guidelines, alimony is decided by a judge weighing the 14 statutory factors under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(b), which is why similar marriages produce different outcomes. Our guide to how alimony is calculated in New Jersey covers the factors in detail.

Courts consider:

Actual need and the other spouse’s ability to pay
Duration of the marriage, and the age and health of both parties
Standard of living during the marriage, and whether each spouse can maintain a comparable one
Earning capacity, education, employability, and time out of the job market
Parental responsibilities, and the cost of training needed to return to work
Financial and non-financial contributions to the marriage
Equitable distribution and income available from invested assets
Tax consequences and any pendente lite support already paid

Two variables dominate South Jersey cases. Imputed income applies when a spouse is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed and the court assigns an earning capacity instead of accepting a reduced paycheck. Cross-border income matters because many clients live in New Jersey and work in Philadelphia, where the wage tax makes gross and available income diverge. In high asset divorces, business valuation adds a third layer.

Changing or Ending an Alimony Order in New Jersey

Alimony is not permanent even when it is open durational. It changes when circumstances change, and it ends on defined triggers.

Cohabitation. The most litigated termination issue in New Jersey. Courts weigh intertwined finances, shared expenses and household duties, social recognition of the relationship, its duration, and any promise of support. Living together full time is not required, and since Cardali v. Cardali in 2023 a payor no longer has to prove every factor, or show intertwined finances at all, to open discovery.
Retirement. For orders entered after September 2014, alimony is presumed to terminate at the payor’s full Social Security retirement age, currently 67. The presumption is rebuttable and the recipient carries the burden. Earlier retirement is judged on reasonableness and good faith.
A substantial change in circumstances. Involuntary job loss, disability, or a significant raise can justify post-judgment modification. After a job loss the statute permits an application at 90 days of unemployment, and relief can run retroactive to the date income dropped.
Remarriage, death, or the end of the term. Remarriage ends open durational and limited duration alimony but not reimbursement alimony, which is a repayment obligation. Alimony also ends at either party’s death, or when a limited duration or rehabilitative term expires.

Paying and Collecting Alimony in New Jersey

Alimony is typically paid monthly or weekly by check, ACH, or transfer app. Keep a record of every payment, whatever the method. Informal payments that are not documented are the most common source of arrears disputes we see.

When a payor stops, you file an enforcement motion. A judge can:

Garnish wages or route payments through Probation
Suspend a driver’s or professional license
Order a lump sum, or compel a property transfer separate from equitable distribution
Award counsel fees against the non-paying spouse

Moving to enforce quickly matters. The longer arrears sit, the harder it is to argue that you needed the money.

Why South Jersey Clients Bring Us Their Spousal Support Case

Most attorneys treat alimony as an afterthought to property division. It is the term that follows you home every month.

Robyn B. Flynn founded the Camden County YWCA’s legal clinic for displaced homemakers, the exact population New Jersey’s alimony statute protects. More than 30 years in family law, lifelong Camden County resident.
Ron Graziano wrote a guide to New Jersey alimony law and is one of the few family attorneys to argue before the New Jersey Supreme Court. Practicing here since 1974. Both partners are AV Preeminent rated.
Half our alimony work is defense. If you are paying, we know what recipients argue. If you are receiving, we know how payors hide income.
We know the vicinages. Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester weigh the same factors differently, which shapes whether we settle or file.
Six attorneys, one practice area. Your case is not competing with a real estate closing, and you will know who is handling it before you retain us.

What South Jersey Clients Ask Before They Call

There is no minimum, and short marriages do produce awards where the income gap is wide. Length controls duration instead: under 20 years alimony generally cannot outlast the marriage, and at 20 years or more open durational alimony becomes available.

The Family Part of the Superior Court, usually in the county where the defendant lives. For most South Jersey cases that means Camden, Mount Holly, or Woodbury, and whether you file from Cherry Hill or Mount Laurel changes your timeline.

Yes, if you have lived in New Jersey for at least a year. Your residency controls, not your spouse’s address, though out-of-state cases add steps for service and enforcement.

Yes. A prenuptial agreement is judged on whether it was fair when signed rather than when enforced, so disclosure and independent counsel at signing decide whether the waiver holds.

Civil union partners have the same support rights as spouses, so alimony is available on dissolution of a civil union. Domestic partnerships are treated differently and support is far more limited.

The phone consultation is free. Contested matters are billed hourly against a retainer, and an uncontested negotiation costs a fraction of a plenary hearing.

Serving Families Across New Jersey

Get a Straight Answer About What You Will Actually Pay or Receive

Most people call us with a number in their head that someone else gave them. The first thing we do is tell you whether that number holds up in a New Jersey courtroom.

Our office is in Maple Shade, minutes from the Camden and Burlington County courthouses, and we represent clients across South Jersey from Cherry Hill and Haddonfield out to Vineland.

Call 856-422-2010 or toll free 877-938-1963 for a free phone consultation, or contact us and we will get back to you the same business day.