The tide has shifted in the workforce with women taking on more and more high-level career positions. Today, women are the top income earners in one-third of all marriages.
This shift has resulted in another tide change when these marriages end in divorce, as do an average of 50% of marriages. A new and growing trend has emerged where women are paying alimony and/or child support to their ex-husbands.
More than half, 56 percent, of divorce lawyers across the United States have seen an increase in mothers paying child support in the last three years and 47 percent have noted a hike in the number of women paying alimony, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
When one spouse makes more than the other, alimony is a means to equalize the lifestyle of each spouse upon dissolution of the marriage. Originally intended to protect the spouse who was not the career-driven force in the household (traditionally the female), alimony is now equalizing spouses when the woman is simply more successful than her husband.
What does this mean for women on a career rise? While planning for a divorce is counter-intuitive to nurturing a happy marriage, understanding what your rise in salary can mean in all situations, from taxes to retirement, is important for prudent financial planning.
