Bradeen v. Bradeen

I respectfully dissent. From the common law status of married women being economically incapacitated and dependent, alimony (a husband’s marital duty to support his wife when she is no longer his wife) was birthed. Women now hold over fifty percent of the jobs in the United States, and they are not, as a general rule, either economically incapacitated or dependent. As circumstances change, perceptions should change.

For a collection of alimony cases in this Court over a ten-year period, with my special writings, see Baltzer v. Baltzer, 422 N.W.2d 584, 589 (S.D.1988) (Henderson, J., concurring…