By Robert L. Mues   |   August 9th, 2008
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mani.jpgPerhaps it is time to forget the “I am a man and can take care of myself” attitude. Did you know that under Ohio law, the factors for alimony or spousal support are gender blind? Up until the 1980’s there were few men who received spousal support from their wives, but times and attitudes are slowly changing. As more men are granted custody of their children or become stay at home dads, the need for women to pay both child and spousal support has increased. But interestingly, statistics show that “thirty-three percent of higher-earning spouses are women, but fewer than four percent of alimony payers are women”, according to a CNN article on Manimony (a slang term for alimony paid to men). In today’s society many men still refuse to request spousal support even if their spouse earns much more money than they do. So it seems that the inequality in spousal support awards may have more to do with male machismo than any legal bias.

In her blog, Attorney Marie Fahnert, the author of the Chicago Divorce Lawyer had a very insightful perspective on the topic. She believes that “women will never achieve full equality until men stop being stigmatized for earning less that their wives. Simply speaking- if alimony rates for men stay as they are- a married man will never have the same incentive as a women to invest in his spouse’s career.”

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What About “Manimony”?

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One thought on “What About “Manimony”?

  • March 14, 2009 at 6:40 am
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    Question:

    When I spoke to Miami County Courts (Ohio) today. They stated to me that they did not agree on the order for which was done here to end the Parental Rights or the Ongoing Child Support. I did however find this info on line after looking over the order. As my attorney filed a UCCJEA “Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act.”

    When looking over the general purposes for a UCCJEA I found the following…
    (1) Avoid jurisdictional competition and conflict with courts of other states in matters of
    child custody which have in the past resulted in the shifting of children from state to state with
    harmful effects on their well-being.
    (More info can be found on the site)

    Now after looking over the definitions of this it means the following..(3) “Child custody determination” means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court
    providing for the legal custody, physical custody, residential care, or visitation with respect to a
    child. The term includes a permanent, temporary, initial, and modification order. The term does
    not include an order relating to child support or other monetary obligation of an individual.

    This information can be found at this website: http://www.lrcvaw.org/laws/fluccjea.pdf

    Now Florida has ordered that the Ongoing Child Support be stopped. But Ohio does not have to agree to this. As I was told today that Ohio has not agreed to this. And just because Child support may have the order from Florida. They still have the order from Ohio to keep the ongoing child support. Florida did have the right to change the girls name and the right to terminate parental rights & the right to the ongoing child support. But Ohio has not agreed to the ongoing child support o be waived. So, am I correct in the fact that the ongoing Child Support is still there?

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