[Mears]

My late brother-in-law paid alimony to his first wife for 40 years,until his death. (I don’t know the amount).

If she had remarried it would have ended....but she never did.

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[baltimorepoet]

My late brother-in-law paid alimony to his first wife for 40 years,until his death. (I don’t know the amount). If she had remarried it would have ended....but she never did.

What incentive did she have to re-marry? She could still be in a relationship with a guy and still have the sucker err... ex-husband footing the bills.

[Albion Wilde]

My late brother-in-law paid alimony to his first wife for 40 years,until his death. (I don’t know the amount).

Your example is from the time period before the great wave of liberation jurisprudence hit the scene hardest. It was from the time when women were still statistically earning far less than men, and when homemaking was still considered in a court's decision. And you don't know the amount -- it could have been a pittance compared to the other poster's figure of $20K a year. This thread here is about the men and women of marriageable age today, and their fears of what has happened in divorce courts since the great waves of feminist divorce peaked in the late 80s - early 90s.