HB0089 - Alimony-termination.

 

2001

State of Wyoming

01LSO-0348

 

 

 

HOUSE BILL NO.  HB0089

 

 

Alimony-termination.

 

Sponsored by:

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

 1  AN ACT relating to alimony; providing for termination of
 2  alimony upon remarriage; providing a procedure for notice
 3  of remarriage; providing for consideration by the court of
 4  a failure to file a notice of remarriage; providing
 5  voluntary cohabitation as grounds to modify alimony;
 6  defining voluntary cohabitation; providing for termination
 7  of alimony upon death of the party receiving alimony;
 8  providing for applicability of provisions; and providing
 9  for an effective date.

10 

11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

12 

13         Section 1.  W.S. 20-2-116 is amended to read:

14  

15         20-2-116.  Revision of alimony and other allowances.

16 

 

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 1         (a)  After a decree for alimony or other allowance for
 2  a party or children and after a decree for the appointment
 3  of trustees to receive and hold any property for the use of
 4  a party or children pursuant to W.S. 20-2-314, the court
 5  may from time to time, on the petition of either of the
 6  parties, revise and alter the decree respecting the amount
 7  of the alimony or allowance or the payment thereof and
 8  respecting the appropriation and payment of the principal
 9  and income of the property so held in trust and may make
10  any decree respecting any of the matters which the court
11  might have made in the original action.

12 

13         (b)  Upon the remarriage of a party in whose favor a
14  final decree for alimony has been made, all rights to
15  receive, and all duties to make, payments for alimony shall
16  automatically terminate for all payments due after the date
17  of the remarriage, unless the final decree or an agreement
18  of the parties in writing approved by the final decree,
19  provides specifically for the payments to continue after
20  remarriage.

21 

22         (c)  The remarried party shall file a notice of the
23  remarriage with the court which made the decree for alimony
24  and not later than thirty (30) days after the marriage, by

 

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 1  personal service or registered or certified mail, serve a
 2  copy of the notice on the former paying party. In any
 3  proceeding relating to the payment of alimony to a
 4  remarried party, the failure of the remarried party to file
 5  a notice of remarriage shall be considered by the court in
 6  awarding attorney's fees and costs for the proceeding and
 7  in determining reimbursement to the former paying party.

 8 

 9         (d)  The voluntary cohabitation of a party in whose
10  favor a final decree for alimony has been made shall be a
11  ground to modify provisions of the final decree for
12  alimony. If voluntary cohabitation is alleged in a motion
13  to modify the payment of alimony, the court shall have
14  jurisdiction to reduce or terminate future alimony payments
15  upon proof of substantial change of circumstances of either
16  party to the divorce relating to the need for alimony. The
17  petitioner shall make application for modification and
18  shall follow notification procedures used in other divorce
19  decree modification actions. The court that entered the
20  divorce decree shall have jurisdiction over the
21  modification application. As used in this subsection, the
22  term "cohabitation" means the dwelling together habitually
23  with another person, regardless of the sex of the other
24  person, in a private conjugal relationship not solemnized

 

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 1  as a marriage according to law, or not necessarily meeting
 2  all the standards of a common-law marriage.

 3 

 4         (e)  Alimony shall terminate upon the death of the
 5  party in whose favor a final decree for alimony has been
 6  made, except that arrearages that have accrued before the
 7  death of the party receiving alimony shall not be vacated
 8  or annulled.

 9 

10         (f)  This subsection and subsections (b) through (e)
11  of this section shall apply to a decree for alimony whether
12  entered before, on or after July 1, 2001.

13 

14         Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2001.

15 

16                         (END)

 

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