Crosspost "Alimony laws has no basis in societal/legal/civil principles. It amounts to naked robbery from one group to another." from /r/MensRights:

It's simple to see that alimony payment is not a simple transaction, like buying something at a store. To put it simply, the man does not receive anything in exchange of the payment. He does not get cooking service, he does not get cleaning service. He simply does not receive anything. The man pays, the woman benefits.

In a way, this leads to the idea of the man "owe-ing" the woman. On simply a common sense level, exactly how does a judge decide who "owes" who after the end of a relationship? Indeed, if a man paid tuition for the woman (and she's not using it), doesn't the woman "owe" the man for the tuition money? Without written contracts of what's being borrowed and what's being owed, this idea of "debt repayment" is ludicrous.

The argument of "she's accustomed to a lifestyle" is not even worth discussing. I'm accustomed to a lot of things, but the only way I keep enjoying what I'm accustomed to is if I keep paying for it. The argument can only come from extremists traditionalists that see women as some kind of god.

Finally, there's the argument that, whether or not it's fair, it comes as a package to the decision to marry. If you don't like it, don't marry. In general, this is actually a very valid argument. And men absolutely should consider this argument and come to the conclusion that they should not marry. However, the problem comes in when alimony laws affect men that go married prior to these laws being passed. So they decided to marry without knowing about alimony and no-fault divorce. The terms of "marriage contract" is being changed after it's signed.

To sum it all up, we see the following situation, a man who:

  • get married before laws are changed for alimony and no-fault divorce;
  • shares finances and life with his wife never thinking about who owes who and is completely devoted to her
  • gets blindsided with divorce even though it's not what he wants
  • then is forced to pay alimony for sth he had no control over and that he never agreed to

Exactly what should we call this payment from this man to his ex-wife? Exactly how should we characterize this payment? Exactly why is he making this payment (or having his wage garnished)?


Posted by rich_before_30 | 2 June 2022 | Link