Editing Alimony (section)

=== England ===
English courts award spousal maintenance, either in a lump sum or in installments, when one party cannot support themselves without payments from the other party.<ref>{{cite web |title=Guidance on "Financial Needs" on Divorce |url=https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/guidance-on-financial-needs-on-divorce-june-2016-2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005134434/https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/guidance-on-financial-needs-on-divorce-june-2016-2.pdf |archive-date=2020-10-05 |url-status=live |website=Courts and Tribunals Judiciary - Family Justice Council |publisher=Judicial Press Office |access-date=28 August 2021 |date=June 2016}}</ref>

Under traditional [[English Common Law|English common law]], a woman gave up her personal property rights on marriage (see [[Coverture]]). Upon separation from marriage, the husband retained the right to the wife's property, but, in exchange, had an ongoing responsibility to support the wife after dissolution of the marriage.<ref name="AAML" /><ref name="McCoy" /> English law was amended by legislation including the [[Married Women's Property Act 1870]] and [[Married Women's Property Act 1882]] which reformed women's property rights relating to marriage, by, for example, permitting divorced women to regain the property they owned before marriage.<ref name="McCoy" /><ref name="New Art of Alimony">{{cite news|last=Levitz|first=Jennifer|date=October 31, 2009|title=New Art of Alimony|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703399204574505700448957522}}</ref><ref name="Barbara von Hauzen, Esp">{{cite web|author=Barbara von Hauzen, Esp.|title=Should Permanent Alimony Be Eliminated?|url=http://www.massalimonyreform.org/PDFs/Should_Permanent_Alimony_Be_Eliminated.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727070621/http://www.massalimonyreform.org/PDFs/Should_Permanent_Alimony_Be_Eliminated.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-27|work=The Reformer|publisher=Massachusetts School of Law}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Goodnough|first=Abby|date=November 11, 2009|title=Retirees Still Liable for Alimony, Massachusetts, Mississippi and Tennessee Court Rules|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10alimony.html?_r=1|access-date=April 23, 2010}}</ref>