A. A court award of post-relationship support after a long-term non-marital relationship.
Listen to pronunciationYou may notice that this word looks like alimony, which is court awarded payments to a former wife (or husband) after divorce. Palimony is what such payments are called if the former couple was not married. A famous Hollywood divorce lawyer first created this word in 1977 by joining pal and alimony. So while not originally a legal term, palimony has since become accepted in the legal community.
Legal Definition - A court's award of post-relationship support or compensation for services, money or goods contributed during a long-term non-marital relationship, especially where a common-law marriage* cannot be established. Black's Law Dictionary® Eighth Edition © 2004
*common law marriage - A marriage that takes legal effect, without license or ceremony, when two persons, capable of marrying, live together as husband and wife, intend to be married, and hold themselves out to others as a married couple.
Recent Usage - On Feb. 6, a state appeals court ruled that without cohabitation, an extramarital romantic relationship -- even one that spanned 70 years -- cannot be a basis for palimony support.
Jeanette Levine, now 85, sued her longtime lover, Philip Konvitz, in 2004 after Konvitz, then 91, began to slip into dementia and turned over his finances to his son and to a friend. He died that year.
According to the suit, Levine met Konvitz in Newark around 1920 when she was in her mid-teens. He proposed marriage but she declined, believing she was too young. He eventually married another woman and had children. She got married when she was in her 40s.
The two continued to maintain a relationship that was sometimes romantic. They would see each other when Levine's husband was away on frequent business trips, and Konvitz, a wealthy insurance executive, showered her with gifts, cash and a condominium, according to the suit.
But though Levine's relationship with Konvitz was open and above board, they never lived together -- a fact that the appeals court last week found fatal. New Jersey Law Journal 02-17-2006