The possibility of reducing the alimony established in a divorce judgment

After obtaining a divorce from his ex-wife, and after two years, Mr. S. J. came to our family law firm when the company where he had been working for more than five years informed him of its decision to dispense with his services, with the sole objective of reducing economic costs.

Faced with his new situation, Mr. J. describes the financial difficulties he is experiencing in meeting all his expenses, including the maintenance payments for his two minor children and his ex-wife's alimony. His income has been drastically reduced, going from a salary of around €1,700 per month to an unemployment benefit of less than €900 per month.

At the law firm of G. Elías y Muñoz Abogados we propose to request a modification of the measures set out in the divorce judgment, requesting a reduction of both the alimony and the compensatory alimony that he was obliged to pay monthly, the total amount of which amounted to €600.

Article 775 of the Civil Procedure Act requires that in order to proceed with a modification of the measures it is necessary that there has been a substantial variation in the circumstances taken into account at the time of the divorce decree. In the case of Mr. S.J., it was sufficient to take as a reference the financial situation that he had at the time when the benefits were fixed in relation to the economic capacity that he currently enjoys.

The claim brought by the Office clearly showed the reduction in his purchasing power, and he provided all the evidence necessary to prove it.

Finally, the Judge fully upheld the claim filed by our Firm, stating that in the scenario described above, it can indeed be seen that there has been a significant change in the economic capacity that Mr. J. had been enjoying in relation to the time when the divorce of the then spouses was decreed, since the regular receipt of the salary he had been receiving from the company where he worked has been replaced by the current unemployment benefit.

Thus, the judge concludes that the alteration in the employment and economic situation of our client must necessarily be reflected proportionally in the measures derived from the matrimonial crisis, setting the alimony at 200 euros and the compensatory allowance at 100 euros per month, without being able to update them during Mr. S. J.'s unemployment situation.