How exactly does alimony and child support work, and why does it seem like it’s always men who pay it to women, and never the other way around?
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The basic idea of alimony is that if your spouse stops working to be a full-time homekeeper, and they get divorced, they will have a hard time supporting themselves because they haven’t been working in years and are going to have a hard time getting back into the job market.
The fear is that you would have people stuck in abusive relationships where they couldn’t leave because they knew they wouldn’t be able to support themselves on their own.
Alimony is meant for those sorts of cases, where someone who is going to need help getting back on their feet if they get divorced is able to get that help. It is much rarer these days since very few people are stay at home parents or housekeepers.
Child support is similar. If you are not going to be actively raising a kid, you still have a responsibility to that child to help, and paying money for that child is seen as a way to handle that responsibility.
And the reason why it seems more often happening to men is that in our culture women are more likely to be a stay-at-home parent who doesn’t work than men.
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