What You Should Know about the Alimony Case of Luo v. Liu (2022)

Examining real cases is really the only way to get a clear sense of how the law works. Someone could read all the case law in a certain area and also read all the relevant commentaries, authoritative guides, and statutory language, but that someone wouldn’t actually understand how the law operates in reality. To gain a sense of how a given area of law works realistically, we must read and follow actual cases. When reading cases, we often see that expected things don't unfold the way from a superficial understanding of the law. We start seeing subtleties of judicial reasoning and the various considerations which go into creating an outcome in a case. When dealing with alimony in divorce, we presume that a prenuptial agreement would quickly settle uncertainties, but as Luo v. Liu shows, this isn’t always true. In this post, we will give a brief rundown of this important case and then highlight its overall significance.

Brief Overview of the Alimony Case: Luo v. Liu (2022)

Luo is an affluent American of Chinese descent who married Liu back in 2016. Liu is originally from China. The two individuals met on a Chinese-language dating website back in 2012. Although Luo was the primary earner, Liu attended a prestigious university in China, had intermediate English language skills, and had independent means with which to support herself in the event of divorce. Before their marriage in 2016, the couple signed a prenuptial agreement in which they waived their right to obtain alimony. After their marriage in 2016, the couple developed and signed a “marital settlement agreement”, which essentially reiterated the provisions of the prenuptial contract.In 2018, Luo filed for divorce based on the grounds of a continuous 12-month period of living apart. Liu attempted to obtain temporary alimony (i.e. “pendente lite”). The trial court granted the award, even though the marital agreements forbade alimony. Liu made numerous arguments about why marital agreements shouldn’t be honoured. Ultimately, the appellate court (i.e. Circuit Court of Montgomery County) determined that the award was made in error because the lower court failed to conclude that the marital agreements were invalid. Because marital agreements are “presumptively valid,” there must be a finding that the agreements are invalid for the court to gain the authority to grant the award.

Primary Lesson: Prenuptial Agreements are Presumptively Valid in Maryland

A few lessons can be taken away from this situation, but arguably the most critical lesson is the facial validity of marital agreements in Maryland. In this case, Liu tried to argue that the agreements should be voided because she lacked legal representation, had limited English language skills, and so forth. The appellate court simply noted that the lower court didn’t actually determine that the underlying marital agreements were invalid based on Liu’s arguments; instead, the lower court simply granted the temporary alimony without rendering the agreements unenforceable. Because the agreements were “presumptively valid,” and therefore apparently enforceable, this meant that the court erred in making the award.In other words, to make the award, the underlying agreements would’ve needed to be void, and that wasn’t the original conclusion. The appellate court overturned the award and sent the case for additional proceedings. More than anything, this should tell us something about the hurdle of overcoming a superficially valid marital agreement.

Contact The Murphy Law Firm for More Information

We will likely continue with our new format and discuss more recent family law cases in the near future. If you’d like to learn more, reach out to The Murphy Law Firm today by calling 240-493-9116.