Time to reform Vermont alimony policy

BRATTLEBORO — Men and women as far away as Brattleboro, Rutland, Putney, Barre, Burlington, and St. Johnsbury met recently to launch a Vermont alimony-reform movement.

I am spearheading this new activist organization, Vermont Alimony Reform (VAR). I am a native of Brattleboro who is forced to pay lifetime alimony to an ex-wife who has since remarried after the divorce was final. In most states, remarriage of an alimony-receiving spouse terminates an alimony obligation.

Vermont Alimony Reform's mission is to reform and update our state's archaic and outdated alimony laws. The goal is to follow the lead of neighboring Massachusetts, whose legislature unanimously passed the Alimony Reform Act of 2011.

This highly successful, sweeping reform was the product of an Alimony Reform Task Force appointed by the chairs of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Among the active participants of the Task Force was Steve Hitner, the president of Massachusetts Alimony Reform.

Vermont Alimony Reform will be urging the Vermont Legislature to follow the successful process by establishing a similar Alimony Reform Task Force. The task force should include a representative of all interested parties, including but not limited to VAR, the Vermont Bar Association and its women's division, judges, and members of the Legislature.

Our goal is to bring predictability, consistency, and fairness to the family court system as it relates to divorce and alimony.

I encourage your readers to contact their local legislators and to reach out to Maxine Grad, who chairs the House Committee on Judiciary, and Dick Sears, who chairs the Senate Committee on Judiciary. Please urge them to move forward with the formation of a Vermont Alimony Reform Task Force.

For more information about our organization and a list of our legislative goals, please visit vtalimonyreform.com or contact me at 802-490-8534. If you prefer, you can email [email protected].

We all need to work together to bring consistency, predictability, and fairness to Vermont's alimony laws and bring them into the 21st century.