My XW worked and was living with a rich sugar daddy and probably did not need alimony. Still, my lawyer said it would be risky fighting it out to court. Her lawyer was asking for $1200 a month in alimony for 5 years if she lived with sugar daddy and $2000 if she lived by herself.
I weighed my court risks, the tax dedcution benefit, the reduction alimony does for child support, and the idea that once alimony is on record that it can be changed (amount and term) in the future if she is seriously injured. I ended up doing a $40G buyout of alimony as part of the division of assets and I am not on record as paying alimony. I was able to refinance my house to pay for all of that and I came out pretty good with only about $300 more a month for mortgage payments.
