It is almost inevitable that someone going through a divorce in Virginia will lose some money by the time the court declares he or she is single. While the alimony system is meant to prevent either spouse from becoming impoverished after the divorce, there are a considerable number of people in Virginia and across the country who are unable to modify their alimony payments after their financial situations change.

Many states' alimony laws were passed at a time when women rarely worked outside of the home and could easily be left without much money after a divorce. Now that 59 percent of women work and receive an average yearly salary of $35,000, the alimony laws may need to be reformed.

When a 72-year-old retired physician divorced his ex-wife in 1997, he was ordered to pay $25,200 in alimony each year. Now, his ex-wife is a college professor and he can no longer communicate or walk because of his severe Alzheimer's disease, but he continues to make his alimony payments. While the physician and his new wife can afford the alimony payments, if they were no longer obligated to pay, the man's wife could hire additional people to help care for her husband.

Activists in Virginia have been trying to reform the alimony laws to better reflect contemporary divorce, they say.

Alimony is extremely important in some divorces. When one spouse has little education or experience and the other spouse makes a considerable amount of money, it may make sense to order one party to support the other. In other situations, however, former spouses who can no longer pay their spousal support obligations have been unable to reduce their monthly payments. In some situations, alimony payments may drive someone into bankruptcy and possible foreclosure.

Source: USA Today, "Should alimony laws be changed?" Yamiche Alcindor, Jan. 18, 2012