## Facts

- Janey Peterson and Gregory Peterson divorced after approximately 18 years of marriage.
- The divorce judgment required Gregory to pay Janey periodic spousal support of $1,000 per month for seven years, followed by $500 per month for an additional ten years.
- The judgment conditioned spousal support on Janey remaining unmarried and alive, providing that the payments would stop if Janey died or remarried.
- Janey remarried within the initial seven-year period.
- After the remarriage, Gregory petitioned the circuit court to amend the divorce judgment and terminate his spousal-support obligation.
- The circuit court granted Gregory’s request and ended the alimony obligation.
- Janey appealed the termination order to the Supreme Court of South Dakota and also sought attorney’s fees for the appeal.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court erred by terminating Gregory’s obligation to pay periodic alimony after Janey remarried during the initial seven-year payment period.
2. Whether Janey was entitled to attorney’s fees for the appeal.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of South Dakota affirmed the circuit court’s order terminating alimony.
- The court held that Janey’s remarriage justified ending periodic spousal support under South Dakota law and under the divorce judgment’s termination language.
- The court rejected Janey’s argument that the structure of the award gave her a right to continued payments despite remarriage.
- The court denied Janey’s request for attorney’s fees on appeal.

## Legal Principles

- Periodic alimony is a continuing support obligation, not a fixed property entitlement, and it may be modified or terminated when circumstances materially change.
- A recipient spouse’s remarriage is generally treated as a material change that supports termination of alimony, absent a clear basis to continue support despite remarriage.
- When a divorce judgment conditions alimony on the recipient’s continued unmarried status, remarriage triggers termination of the obligation.
- Attorney’s fees on appeal are discretionary and commonly denied when the requesting party does not prevail.

## Conclusion

Peterson v. Peterson held that the recipient spouse’s remarriage warranted termination of periodic alimony where the divorce judgment tied support to the recipient remaining unmarried, and the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s order ending alimony while denying appellate attorney’s fees.


Peterson v. Peterson, 434 N.W.2d 732 (1989)