WEST VIRGINIA Part 35

Changing Payments, Remarriage, and Death

At any time, either spouse can ask the court to increase, decrease, terminate, or extend any type of alimony payments if there has been a substantial change in either spouse’s circumstances. Usually, a substantial change has to do with a change in finances – the loss of a job, for example. A court can make a new order reflecting the change in circumstances, as long as it is fair to do so and continues to take both spouses’ needs into consideration.

If a recipient spouse remarries, then temporary and permanent alimony terminate. Rehabilitative support continues, even if the recipient spouse remarries, during the first four years of a rehabilitative period. For example, if the spouses agree or the court awards rehabilitative alimony for six years and the paying spouse remarries after two years, then rehabilitative payments must continue for another two years after remarriage.