A few weeks ago, the Family Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association held its annual symposium. The lectures spanned a variety of subjects and included dozens of presenters, but one of the subjects provoked starkly differing opinions. The subject: Whether an alimony payor can be forced to use assets that were distributed in equitable distribution as a source of income to continue to pay alimony after retirement. 

The visceral reaction to this question is typically: “Of course not—that is a ‘double-dip.’” The issue, however, is much more complicated and far less clear. First, consider these principles from Innes v. Innes, 117 N.J. 496, 503 (1990):