Types of Alimony

It is more common for alimony payments to made in the form of periodic monthly payments. However, in Georgia, it is also possible for the court to order alimony to be paid by one spouse to another in the form of one "lump sum" cash payment. This is called lump sum alimony. There are some important differences about lump sum alimony that you should be aware of. Unlike other forms of alimony - lump sum alimony is not subject to modification or termination. This should definitely be taken into consideration before deciding lump sum alimony is right for you case.

There are situations where one party during a divorce makes all of the couple's money and manages all of their finances. In these situations, it may be difficult for the spouse without access to funds to defend themselves or hire a lawyer for the divorce. Temporary alimony was created to rectify this potentially unfair and inequitable situation. Temporary alimony is where the court orders one spouse to make alimony payments to the other spouse during the pendency of the divorce. For this reason, temporary alimony is sometimes called alimony pendente lite (pending the suit). This type of alimony is only awarded when a divorce has been filed but is not yet final.

Permanent alimony can be a misleading term. Permanent alimony does not necessarily mean that alimony payments will be permanent. Permanent alimony is is just a term used for alimony that a court may award once the divorce is final. This is different from temporary alimony which is alimony that a court may award during the pendency of the divorce. In Georgia, lifetime alimony is extremely rare. The recent trend for permanent alimony is to order it to continue for a set duration like 5 years or 10 years depending on the case.