Alimony can be expensive, and it can be difficult to modify. In South Carolina, periodic alimony is typically permanent. Which means that essentially you’re paying alimony until one party dies, or until the receiving party remarries. That makes alimony the most frequent life sentence applied by a court. Alimony modification or termination is incredibly challenging.

There are a number of issues that might justify an alimony modification or even termination, and you should discuss those with your attorney. However, one of the situations that we see on a regular basis is a spouse cohabitating with someone else in a romantic manner, while fastidiously avoiding marriage.  South Carolina statute lists cohabitation as a justification for alimony termination(§20-3-130). The statute defines cohabitation as  meaning: “the supported spouse resides with another person in a romantic relationship for a period of ninety or more consecutive days”. That has two elements at play that need to be substantiated by evidence. The first is that there needs to be a romantic relationship between the two people. The second is that they must be cohabitating for a at least 90 days.

Unfortunately, needing evidence of 90 days of cohabitation can be expensive to acquire, but given the permanence of alimony payments, an alimony modification investigations can pay for themselves rather quickly. We use a combination of GPS trackers and surveillance with video and still photo collection to provide enough evidence. Additionally, we provide both you and your attorney with access to up-to-the-minute updates in our online case management platform. This allows you to know what’s going on, and permits the attorney to provide feedback and direction as he prepares to argue the case before a Family Court judge.

As always, our initial consultations are free, so contact us today to discuss you specific case and how we can help you.