We have recently encountered an issue where one former spouse is pursuing a reduction in alimony based upon a significant reduction in commissioned income. In exploring this issue, there is not a great deal of appellate guidance and alimony awards, unlike awards of temporary support effected during the divorce process, are not based on guidelines. Thus, it appears that in the context of any modification of post divorce alimony, both parties would need to explore their current relative incomes and their current expenses.
As we began to drill into this complex topic, it became clear that one of the problems faced by both now former spouses is the level to which they contribute to the needs of their adult children. Their problem is not by any means unique. A recent Experian survey of 2,000 adults between 18 and 42, found that more than half said they were still financially dependent on their parents. Some of these children are still in college and some have just emerged and started careers. Alas 47% of millennials (ages 25-40) are among those seeking and getting help.
The Experian study does not reveal data about the actual depth of support. For some it may be little more than cellular phone costs. But we have seen lots of parents keeping adult children who have completed school on their health insurance plans, often without contribution from the insured child. And then there is a kind of tsunami in adult drug use. In 2020 there were 37,000,000 Americans over the age of 12 who used illegal drugs according to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics. https://drugabusestatistics.org/
In olden times, these problems existed but most parents had few if any resources to support anyone but themselves and their minor children. The support laws of Pennsylvania have long held that parents can be held liable to support adult children incapable of self support by reason of physical or mental infirmity. But the problems we face today are far more complex and the costs of health insurance, and the constant adjustment of deductibles and co-pays are themselves contributing to the crisis. Once upon a time (which is to say for nearly three decades) parents with means could be compelled to contribute to the cost of an adult child’s undergraduate education. But the Supreme Court ended that entitlement in a 1992 decision, Blue v. Blue, 616 A.2d 628.
We have seen a recent case attempting to parse just when or how parents can wean themselves from child support in a world where a child with disabilities is trying to secure employment which could be self-sustaining. Alas, that is not the typical case. Instead, we see children who have attained age 30 and beyond who have degrees and work full-time approaching their parents for insurance money, rehab money, car money or help with the specter of unmanaged student debt. The challenge lawyers and courts face is that we have no law or legal standard to add these needs into any form of support or alimony equation. The alimony factors described in the statute focus on the needs of the “spouse” and make no reference to needs associated with adult children who are not themselves recipients of support based upon claimed disabilities. Candidly, the prospects for judicial or legislative remedies are thin because there is no consensus over whether there is any duty to help a fellow adult who is concurrently one’s child. The Experian study informs us that without a legal duty, parents are continuing to support their adult kids and their kids are anguished by the need to ask. Tis a quandary, indeed.
https://www.experianplc.com/media/latest-news/2023/most-gen-zers-and-millennials-still-rely-on-parents-for-financial-support-and-feel-ashamed-asking-for-help/
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