Mass. House appears ready to consider alimony changes

Critics of the current system say it is inconsistent and arbitrary and leaves many without redress, even if their financial situation deteriorates. The changes would curb “lifetime’’ alimony, something reform advocates say Massachusetts judges award too often.

The bill has 133 cosponsors from both parties and support from a large majority in each branch.

Such alimony changes have failed to pass in the past, but the recession has helped push the issue up on the Legislature’s priority list, lawmakers involved in drafting the bill said. The Joint Committee on the Judiciary heard testimony on the proposed changes in May.

Critics of the current system have argued that some alimony payers found themselves out of work or their businesses failing when the economy took a tailspin, but judges were unable to revise alimony payments because the law did not make any allowances.

Senator Gale D. Candaras, Democrat of Wilbraham, who led the legislative task force charged with looking at the issue, has said the bill does not abolish alimony, as some people fear. “Nothing could be further from the truth,’’ Candaras told State House News Service in an interview in May.

Candaras said the task force worked with people on all sides of the issue to “make sure nothing they did would negatively’’ affect people following divorces.

A group of legislators, lawyers, and judges, along with representatives of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association, and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, worked together for more than a year, reviewing and redrafting current alimony laws. Paula Carey, chief justice of Probate and Family Court, was also involved.

The bill would establish a timeline for payments, granting payments based on the years of marriage. If someone is married five years or less, then the person receiving alimony would get payment for half of the number of months of the marriage.

For a 10- to 15-year marriage, judges would award payment for between 60 to 70 percent of the number of months the couple was married. The spouse of a 15-year marriage would be entitled to payments for 80 percent of the number of months. It would still be up to a judge’s discretion on how many months of payments to award for any marriage longer than 20 years.