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Florida Woman Loses Alimony over DUI
Posted by TotalAttorneys • 12/11/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: alimony, divorce, drunk driving, dui
A West Palm Beach woman has lost more than $2,000/month in alimony payments after being convicted of a drunk driving accident that injured two men. It wasn't the conviction itself that terminated her alimony, but a provision in the couple's divorce agreement that said alimony would terminate if the wife "cohabitated" with another person for more than three months. Two members of a three-judge panel agreed that sharing a prison cell with another inmate was "cohabitation" under the agreement and terminated alimony payments.
blog.totallawyers.com/2008/12/11/dui-terminates-florida-womans-alimony/
Is this the right outcome?
User Comments
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Her cohabitation is not by choice, so I don't go along with that. -
How does that qualify as cohabitation if she didn't choose to be in prison and much less share her cell with whoever she might be sharing it? And she's not paying any money for it either (or is she?), so that can't be a way to show that she can maintain herself without the payments. -
It does, indeed, seem absurd--surely not what the parties contemplated when they made that agreement about cohabitating. However, the term in the agreement is defined simply as "living with another person for more than three months"--it doesn't say anything about that being voluntary.
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still, it should be obvious,so it's ridiculous -
Hmm ... must this another person be the same person for three months? Because, if not, they'd have to start counting again if she gets a new cellmate.
Or, what if she finds herself without a cellmate for a day or two? Would that break the count?
(yes, I'm making it more absurd, but they started it!
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That is ridiculous. However, her alimony would have been cut off if she killed herself as well. I have no respect or sympathy for drunk drivers. They maim and kill people. For this woman it turned out to be an expensive party. Kudos to the judge that made that judgment.-
true.
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She is facing the consequences of her actions, and while I have no sympathy for her,it has no bearing on the alimony. It would be setting a dangerous precedent if judges started going outside the case and penalizing people for things that legally have no relationship to the actual case.
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That's exactly the issue, Jafa. The court here didn't say (and couldn't say) "we think this woman did something awful,so we're ruling against her". It said sharing a jail cell was "cohabitating" under the terms of a relatively generic settlement agreement.
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I find it completely amazing that the ex-husband's pulled this off. If I ever need a lawyer, I'll have to look he or she up.. -
Its a weird legal hole she has fallen into but I don't have any sympathy for drink drivers.-
I don't, either, but this is just too funny of a "side effect" of her conviction.
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As a person who had her life completely changed by the irresponsible behavior a drunk driver I have no sympathy for them at all. Also IMO the "co-habitation" clause in question is a very common one.-
But should sympathy be relevant to the legal outcome?
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As far as sympathy, it "shouldn't" have any bearing on legal outcomes, but a lot of the time it does. Outcomes "should" be based on FACTS, aka, EVIDENCE.
If you want sympathy, look in the dictionary between shit and syphallis..
I have no sympathy for drunk drivers whatsoever. However, it seems to me the judges in this case threw out the intent of the agreement... -
I'm curious as to how Florida defines 'cohabitation' in their statutes.
Wouldn't the judges have to look to that definition to apply it here?-
It seems that the court made its determination based on the parties' own definition of cohabitation in the agreement, which was to live with another person for more than three months.
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It works for me. It is cohabitation. The ex husband probably felt like he hit a lottery ticket with this.
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