Spousal support after death? Possibly.
Let me start by sharing that my granny died yesterday on November 7, 2009 in the afternoon. She was 98 ½. I am happy that she has gone to her eternal rest but sad for her that she didn’t live to be 100 as she had told me she wanted to do when I was a little girl. Granny was my light as a child. Through her adoration, I felt like I was the most lovable child in the whole entire world! So I just wanted to take a moment and honor her and let everyone know that I loved my granny very, very much….May she rest in peace….
Staying on this trend of thought, of death, for a moment, the question in this post is whether you can get spousal support after your spouse dies. Normally, no. You can’t. Most people’s stipulation of settlement would terminate after the death of a spouse. That means that if your spouse was ordered or agreed to pay you $100K per month alimony, after his or her death, that payment would cease. What if they were ordered to pay you till the end of your life? There would have be be provisions in the will, or some sort of life insurance policy that is made a part of the stipulation to protect you.
In some cases, take the Debbie Rowe/Michael Jackson situation for 
example, spousal support can be used as leverage. I don’t know if this happened in Ms. Rowe’s case, but some believe that in lieu of taking custody from Katherine Jackson, the estate, or Ms. Jackson herself, agreed to continue the spousal support that Mr. Jackson was paying Ms. Rowe. If true, that is obviously a highly unusual situation. Normal people don’t get more spousal support after the spouse (whom they had divorced years prior), dies. Unless, as I said, there are provisions in the stipulation for payments to continue after death. But this would obviously only happen in cases where the parties are super wealthy, and sometimes not even then, unless, of course, you are someone with a biography like Michael Jackson. Then, bizarre things start to happen. Like a long lost spouse may suddenly reappear and make demands for spousal support and get it. Not to say Ms. Rowe is getting spousal support. I do not know since there is a confidentiality agreement between the parties. But chances are she could be getting it and in my estimation, that is very highly unusual….by the way have you seen This is it?
Image Credit:
Similar Posts:
- Michael Jackson’s (MJ’S) mom Katherine Jackson wins custody of the kids
- LAS VEGAS: Joe Jackson seeks parental financial support from son Michael’s estate
- TMZ photo proves that Michael was biological father of 2 eldest kids
- Debbie Rowe is not in line to get custody of Michael Jackson’s kids
- Will there be a custody battle for Michael Jackson’s kids?
Loading ...
Sorry to hear about your grandmother. My condolences.
Thank you Lisa. That’s sweet of you to respond to a personal thing like that. She was truly a wonderful, warm, funny woman who thought I was absolutely hilarious. It’s her fault I’m the way I am, actually. She was the first person in my life who honestly seem to think I was hysterical and I really played to that image for a very long time. I love her very much and I wish her grace and peace in her eternity.
Also, thank you for reading my blog. I’ve checked out yours and it’s pretty cool and informative too. Good luck with that.
My condolences to you and your family on the loss of your grandma.
Related to the question at hand, seems that this should be structured as a property settlement or through some life insurance product instead of spousal support. From a tax standpoint, it would be more advantageous to receive life insurance proceeds versus property or spousal support (which would be treated as income).
David, thank you for this information. I am sure my readers would appreciate knowing the difference and getting this info from a CPA. Also, thank you for your condolences. I truly appreciate it. Best regards.