Alimony- Would you accept $53,000 a week?

If you read the story about the wife married to the former United Technologies Corporation chief executive officer who is not willing to accept $53,000 a week in alimony after only 7 years of wedded bliss, you may think the wife is delusional.



Despite a lifestyle that included a Park Avenue apartment, three residences in Sweden, weekly limousine service, and $4,500 a week for clothes, a judge could rule that she needed less than that paltry amount of $53,000 a week.



If the princess wanna be lived in Florida then the court would consider the lifestyle as just one of several factors, but not the primary one. Under Florida's statute the court's primary guidelines is the determination of the spouse's ability to pay and the asking spouse's need. In order to determine those two guidelines the court looks at a host of factors including the asking spouses' ability to earn income and other income producing assets that he or she might have.



In this case, she herself earned one million a year from United Technologies while her husband made $27 million in salary and bonuses. Although there is a disparity in income streams of the two individuals, the court could determine that the $1 million she earned was sufficient to meet her needs, not necessarily her luxury items but her needs for adequate housing, clothing and lifestyle.



In Florida, although a spouse does not have to go to poverty level after living in a wealthy lifestyle, there is still presumably room somewhere between one million dollars and the poverty level for this soon to be ex wife to live quite comfortably.