Does a general alimony award terminate upon remarriage?

In Arkansas, the general rule is that alimony awards terminate once the recipient spouse remarries. This means that if a court orders an alimony award that is intended to continue indefinitely, the alimony will stop upon a subsequent marriage of the recipient spouse. This rule is spelled out in the Arkansas Code Annotated § 9-12-315, which states that “[a]n agreement or order for periodic alimony payments is extinguished by the remarriage of the party to whom they are payable.” By law, alimony payments must end when the recipient spouse remarries because once the remarriage has occurred, the recipient is no longer deemed to be economically disadvantaged relative to the paying spouse. Since the purpose of an alimony award is to provide for the economic needs of the disadvantaged spouse, once the receiving spouse is no longer deemed to be economically disadvantaged, the need for alimony no longer exists. However, if the alimony award was part of a negotiated divorce agreement, the parties may have included language that provides a different outcome. Specifically, the parties could have included a provision that requires alimony to continue even if the recipient spouse remarries. In such cases, the court must stick to the terms of the agreement, and alimony payments may not terminate solely due to remarriage.

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Does a general alimony award terminate upon remarriage?

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