Often a spouse’s lifetime dream of retiring early or changing careers at a certain age is shattered in divorce as a result of an award of alimony under the concept of the “marital momentum.” This concept has routinely provided a dependent spouse with benefits beyond the filing date of the divorce complaint, on the theory that these benefits were the result of the parties’ marital efforts that created a potential or “momentum” beyond the filing date of the divorce complaint. See Hanson, A-4492-00T1 (App. Div. 2002); Gugliemo v. Gugliemo, 253 N.J. Super. 531 (App. Div. 1992); and Gugliotta v. Gugliotta , 160 N.J. Super. 160 (App. Div. 1978).
In Guglielmo v. Guglielmo , the Appellate Division stated, “where a family’s expenditures and income has been consistently expanding, the dependent spouse should not be confined to the precise lifestyle enjoyed during the parties’ last year together.” Instead, the supporting spouse’s income “should be viewed with an eye toward the future since it was to this potential that both parties contributed during the marriage. The then existing earning potential of the working spouse may be shared by the spouse who kept the home, and that standard of living should be implemented through an adequate alimony award.”
