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Tables have turned in divorce courts with more women paying their former husbands alimony and child support than ever before, lawyers say.

As women climb higher up the career ladder and outpace their exes in salary, when love goes wrong and marriages break up they are being compelled to contribute to the livelihood of their former spouses.

And some are not happy about it.

More than half, 56 percent, of divorce lawyers across the United States have seen an increase in mothers paying child support in the last three years and 47 percent have noted a hike in the number of women paying alimony, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

"It shows that women have really moved up financially and that in many instances they are the major bread winners in a lot of families," said Alton Abramowitz, the president-elect of the academy.

"The glass ceiling has been pierced and more and more women have taken over the financial responsibilities and have been saddled with them as well. It is a fact of the way our society has evolved over the last number of years."

Abramowitz, who has been practicing law for 39 years, described the findings of the survey and the changed role of women in the workforce as a sea change.

In his graduating law school class of 135, there were just six women. Data from the Digest of Education Statistics show that the number of men and women receiving medical degrees in the U.S. is almost equal, unlike 1980 when only about a third of medical degrees were awarded to women.

The number of women getting law degrees has nearly doubled.

"You are seeing the results of that, the impact, now in terms of the professions," Abramowitz said.

Although women have made strides professionally, the divorce rate in the United States has remained fairly constant. About half of marriages in the United States end in divorce. The rate has hovered between 46 and 53 percent for decades, he added.

Just as many men grumbled about paying alimony to their former wives, women are not pleased with the turnaround.

"We see women who are every bit as angry as their male counterparts, maybe more so, when they are confronted with the concept of paying spousal support to a man," said Abramowitz.

The gender switch in alimony payments is just one of many changes he has seen during his four decades as a lawyer.

"When I started practicing in 1973 there was no equitable distribution of property," he said.

The 1,600 members of the Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers handle separations, prenuptial agreements, custody battles, property evaluation and division, the rights of unmarried couples, as well as divorce and child support.

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Mon May 20 00:32:26 SAST 2013 ::

May 11, 2012

Tasto

This is the route I am contemplating !!
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May 11, 2012

Ann

not in SA hey
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May 11, 2012

JB$

It's on it's way hun no more baby showers only farther showers is on the cards as well
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May 11, 2012

Pula

Viva madoda viva
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May 11, 2012

mbondo

My father once told me that when your woman start feeding you as a man that will be the end of you my son , expect to do all women thing including wearing panties and skirts.
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May 11, 2012

itsme4sure

@mbondo

ur father is a very wise man.....what size is ur panties.....*just joking*.....lol
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May 11, 2012

Ingxabano

Good
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May 11, 2012

BaleliM

Sadly, the world is not producing that many proud men that stand up to what a man should be like in society. We now have gold diggers and they whine like women.
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May 11, 2012

MarryMeNow

mbondo
your father is from old school. women must pay.
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May 11, 2012

mbondo

@MarryMeNow
My father can be an old school but sure nature is not, naturally we men are suppose to take good care of our wi ves and children. Men are made naturally to be hunters , builders , protectors and leaders of our families. The pride of a man is in his power to feed his family to care for his wi fe and children , if a man don't have that power he feels like a nobody , a prodigal son, a failure of note , a scum of the earth , without a d*ck and is not alive. That's why when they don't have such powers men take a destractive way, which is being alciholic , drug addicts , homelessness and just become scum of the earth.
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