This was a good and bad week for Martin Brodeur, the goalie for the New Jersey Devils. On a good note, he passed Patrick Roy as the all time winningest goalie in NHL history. On a bad note, he lost his appeal of an alimony award in the Appellate Division. To see the opinion, click here. This is the second appeal in this case. To see the opinion in the first appeal, click here.
This was a 7 1/2 year marriage from the date of marriage until the date of separation. It was clear that it is was the parties’ intention that the wife would be a full time, stay at home caretaker of the children.
In the first appeal of this case, the Appellate Division affirmed the award of alimony to Melanie Brodeur in the amount of $500,000 per year but reversed the award of permanent alimony. In this case, the Appellate Division affirmed the award of limited duration alimony until the youngest child graduated from high school.
In the first appeal, the Appellate Division held that:
limited duration alimony is particularly suitable for a situation such as here when the marriage was of short to intermediate duration and the woman is young and has young children. The judge is able to fashion an award that provides financial support to the former wife while she cares for the children.
The Court then addressed the factors that should be considered in the decision of the length of the term, as follows:
The term should be informed not only by the age of the children, but also by the parties’ decision that plaintiff should be the primary and full-time caretaker of the children.