Provider must prove his finances changed

When he and his wife, Nancy, divorced 10 years ago after 34 years of marriage, Skolnick was ordered to pay $6,000 a month. With life and health insurance, he says he has paid about $750,000 over the past decade, plus $1.5 million in marital assets.

At the time of his divorce, he was doing well financially.

But his stock portfolio plunged, his real estate holdings went under, and his printing business fell off, he says. He went back to court to prove that he had a change in circumstances.

“It took me two years and cost me over $100,000 in legal fees to prove that I couldn’t continue to pay her $75,000 a year in alimony,’’ says Joel Skolnick, 66. The judge released him from alimony on the condition that he retire and sell his business, which he did. His former wife is appealing, and the fight has cost him $30,000.

“My ex-wife has a college degree and is perfectly capable of getting a job, but why should she when she’s getting $6,000 a month?’’ he says. “I became literally an indentured servant, and she became a lottery winner.’’

Nancy Skolnick, who runs a calligraphy and invitation business out of her Wayland home, at first declined to speak on the record, but later sent an e-mail in which she said the alimony law should be left as it is: “After a divorce agreement is signed, each party is responsible by law to uphold it. Once you have signed your name and know your obligations, both parties should live their lives accordingly.’’

Her lawyer, David Cherny, who charges $675 an hour, opposes changing the law to set time limits. “Sometimes after 25 years of paying, it’s when the money is needed the most,’’ he says.