Court Opinion

ID: 9649465
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:54:53.385981+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:11.197747
License: Public Domain

*531McAULIFFE, Judge,
concurring.
I agree that the Legislature has not divested the courts of the power to reserve alimony in an appropriate case. I also agree that because of significant changes in the law concerning alimony, and because of the policy underlying those changes, the instances where reservation of alimony will be appropriate will be very rare.
The concept of routinely approving permanent and indefinite alimony to the wife, created at a time when the legal existence of the wife merged into that of the husband at marriage and he became the owner of her personal property and entitled to her services, has properly given way to a concept of “rehabilitative” alimony allowable to either spouse. Recognizing the “partnership” aspects of a modern marriage, and the ability of the courts to make an equitable adjustment of property, the clearly expressed preference — where there is a need for alimony at all — is for the grant of alimony for a specific and limited period of time. The duration and amount of alimony is intended to be that which will reasonably permit the spouse in need to become economically self-sufficient. What constitutes economic self-sufficiency may run the gamut from the ability to afford the basic necessities of life up to the standard of living enjoyed by the parties during the marriage, and is determined by the trial judge after consideration of a number of factors set forth at § 11-106 of the Family Law Article, Maryland Code (1984). In exceptional cases, where an award of alimony for a limited period of time cannot achieve the goal of self-sufficiency, indefinite alimony may be awarded.
I do not agree that alimony may be reserved in the absence of a concomitant determination that there exists an identifiable set of circumstances that is likely to generate a need for rehabilitative alimony in the reasonably near future. In this case, for example, if the trial judge should determine after consideration of all relevant factors, including the fact that the brief marriage of Dr. Sanzaro had no *532adverse impact on her ability to remain self-sufficient, that there should be no award of alimony even if the disease terminates her wage earning capacity in the near future, then the trial judge should not reserve the question of alimony. In those rare instances where a reservation of alimony is appropriate, the trial judge should articulate for the record the imminent circumstances that justify the reservation.
I agree that this is a question properly considered by the trial judge in the first instance, and therefore I concur in the decision to remand.