Opinion ID: 2113836
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Alimony Claim Waived

Text: The Husband's third claim is that the Family Court improperly deemed the Wife to be dependent. Therefore, he argues that the Family Court erroneously concluded that the Wife was entitled to alimony between April 12, 2006, the date of a previous order denying spousal support to the Wife, and February 8, 2008, the date of the order on ancillary matters. An award of alimony by the Family Court is governed by title 13, section 1512 of the Delaware Code. [19] Under section 1512(b), a party may be awarded alimony only if he or she is found to be dependent upon the other party after consideration of all relevant factors in section 1512(c) in that he or she: (1) is dependent upon the other party for support; (2) lacks sufficient property to provide for his or her reasonable needs; and (3) is unable to support himself or herself through appropriate employment. [20] While the Husband asserts that he has preserved his third claim for appeal by raising it in his first motion for reargument, the record reflects otherwise. In that motion, the Husband did not request that the Family Court deny alimony to the Wife between the dates of April 12, 2006, and February 8, 2008. Rather, he requested only that the Family Court order that the Husband's first alimony check be due fifteen days after the marital residence was sold. Moreover, the Wife's response to the motion for reargument addresses only this latter request, as does the Family Court's March 18, 2008, order on the Husband's motion for reargument. The record further reflects that this issue was not raised in the Husband's second motion for reargument, which indicates that the Husband was satisfied that all of the issues he raised in his prior motion had been properly addressed. Because we conclude that the Husband's third claim was not fairly presented to the Family Court in the first instance, we decline to address it for the first time in this appeal. [21]