H.B. 5509 DENIED, BUT THE BATTLE STILL RAGES!

Just so you know, the Judiciary Committee decided not to bring Raised Bill No. 5509 forward for a vote and so it wasn't brought to the full House Or Senate for consideration.

Still, this is no reason to be at ease.  The Connecticut Alimony Reform group and its allies that sponsored the bill won't be resting.  They are continuing to press forward in order to get this bill passed.  In their own words,

"We are hard at work developing the next stages of our strategy."

We also need to be hard at work developing the next stages of OUR strategy! 

H.B. 5509: AN OUTRIGHT ATTACK ON WOMEN, SEE LETTER FROM THE PERMANENT COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN

Testimony of

The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women

Before the

Judiciary Committee

March 19, 2012

Re: H.B. 5509, AAC The Payment of Alimony and Child Support

Senators Coleman and Kissel, Representative Fox and Hetherington, and Members of the Committee,

Thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony on behalf of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) regarding the above referenced bill.

H.B. 5509 would restrict the duration of alimony, and severely limit the grounds for which the Court could deviate from the law. PCSW opposes passage of this bill because it does not take into consideration each family’s finances, circumstances, and the trade-offs that were made when the marriage was successful, i.e. one spouse remaining out of the workforce to care for the children. It also provides the obligor with additional mechanisms to control the ex-spouse’s household after divorce.

Divorced women earn about 13% less than divorced men - $38,046 for divorced women and $43,621 for divorced men.

In addition to pay inequity, women have less income because they are the primary caretakers in the family. Women are more likely to have taken time off or work or worked part-time to care for the family’s children. Men continue to increase their income because their spouses are caring for their children while they work.

In divorce this income disparity continues because women still have to take time out of the workforce to care for the children, but now they have less income. Child support only pays a fraction of the expenses needed to provide a household for a child, and it doesn’t calculate extra expenses such as extracurricular and school activities.

Passage of this bill will result in custodial parents, which are mostly women, continuing to bear the brunt of the financial responsibility for the parties’ children. We appreciate your attention to this matter, and look forward to working with you on this issue.

RAISED HOUSE BILL NO. 5509, AN OUTRIGHT ATTACK ON YOUR RIGHT TO ALIMONY!

On Monday, March 19, 2012, at 1:00pm at the LOB there is a hearing on a new bill entitled "An Act Concerning the Payment of Alimony and Child Support."  Just looking at this act, I can understand why the section under "Introduced by:" is blank because I'm sure no legislator would wish to take responsibility for this outright attack on your legal right to alimony which this bill represents.  For a copy of this bill look under the following link:

http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=5509&which_year=2012&SUBMIT1.x=11&SUBMIT1.y=9&SUBMIT1=Normal

(For those of you who don't know, in a proposed bill the black print is for what is already in the Connecticut General Statute, the blue print is for wording that is proposed to be added to the Statute, and red print is for wording that is proposed to be removed.  In this bill there is no red print.)
 
The changes in the Connecticut Statute that this bill proposes would affect the amount of alimony that you can receive in a serious way as of October 1, 2012. 

First, it specifically establishes caps on the amount of alimony that a person can receive.  For example, it limits alimony to a period of only one half the duration of your marriage.  For those with a financial agreement signed before October 1, 2012 in which alimony exceeds that limit, this bill would then grant litigants the right to return to court and request a modification.  The bill also limits alimony to thirty to thirty-five percent of the difference between the gross income of the parties established at the time the alimony order was issued. 

Second, this bill would allow the court to revoke alimony based upon the fact that the recipient of the alimony has been living with another person for little more than three months.  This is an open invitation for an abusive and controlling ex spouse to invade the privacy of a spouse who is the recipient of alimony. 

Third, this bill would allow alimony to be terminated once the party responsible for the payment of periodic alimony attains retirement age, even if the party is capable of working beyond retirement age.  This is ridiculous.  If a party has a financial obligation as important as that of alimony, this obligation shouldn't simply end because a person is retiring.  Are you allowed to stop paying your mortgage simply because you have retired?  I don't think so.  If you go to an doctor's office will you be excused from paying the fees simply because you have retired? I don't think so.  Likewise, if you have a financial obligation such as alimony which provides an essential economic base for an ex spouse, even if you have retired, you should still be held accountable and required to pay it. 

This bill is promoted on a website entitled "Connecticut Alimony Reform" which can be found at:

www.ctalimonyreform.com 

which is maintained by a group of individuals who wish to remain anonyous because, I suppose, like the state legislators who don't wish to be named as sponsoring this bill, they like to do their dirty work in secret. 

This group is promoting H.B. 5509 by stating it will make divorces easier to settle.  Yeah, by railroading vulnerable litigants into agreements they would not accept otherwise.  They also say it will reduce the stress and strife of divorce, get this, in the lives of our children.  Right, because with laws like this you don't have to play as many games with the children, such as making false claims for custody, in order to eliminate alimony.  I get it! 

Oh, and there is more.  The justifications for this abominable bill don't end here.  These guys say the bill is pro-family and pro-marriage.  Get real.  What this bill actually does is provide an abusive ex spouse with an excuse to nose around and interfere in the life of a former spouse, and prevent him or her from rebuilding and moving forward.  I mean God Forbid an abused ex spouse actually move on an establish a relationship with some other person!  If I can't have him or her, this bill's underlying agenda states, nobody can. 

Take the time to download this bill, review it and absorb what it is saying.   Then contact your State Representative and tell him or her to vote this bill down in no uncertain terms. 

Also, if you can take that one step further, come to the Legislative Office Building this Monday at 1:00pm and provide your personal testimony against this proposed bill.  To do so, have one original and sixteen copies which you can give to the clerk.  Ordinarily, you have around five minutes to speak and your testimony should be geared accordingly.

BACK TO HB 6085, WHO IS RESPONSIBLE

This is just a followup for all of you interested in the activities of the Shared Parenting Counsel and HB 6085.  I was able to investigate further regarding this bill.  As of January 25, 2011 this bill has been referred to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary Committee.  I will continue to keep my eye out regarding the progress of this bill, as should you.  Meanwhile, I urge you all to contact the sponsor of this bill and let him know about your opposition to this bill in no uncertain terms.  As you know, HB 6085 is a bill which attempts to validate the hocus pocus concept of parental alienation and institute legal consequences should it be determined in court that a parent committed parental alienation.  


The person you need to hold accountable for sponsoring this ridiculous bill in the State of Connecticut is:


Rep. Emil Altobello, (D-CT 82 District)


He can be reached at the following:
4015 Legislative Office Building
Hartford, CT  06106-1591
Phone:  860-240-8585
Fax: 860-240-0206


Email Address:  www.housedems.ct.gov/Altobello/index.asp