Even here in Nevada a divorced couple can find itself back in court after several years looking at ways to lower or even increase those alimony payments.

“We look at the length of the marriage, to determine how long the alimony should be. And if there is still alimony to be paid, we look at the financial ability of the paying person to pay more alimony and the financial need, if she's has more need she has a basis to modify, which the court will modify depending upon a combination of those three factors,” says Jonathan King.

King has been a focusing on family law for the last 30-years here locally. He says every three years a divorced couple can, if they choose, review and modify child support--revisiting alimony can happen at anytime.

"Alimony is always fair game," says King, that is if its part of the original divorce decree.

While King says he hasn't seen it personally, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reports a big spike this year in clients trying to have their alimony modified. 42-percent of the group's attorneys reported an "unusual" increase.

We don't have any solid numbers about what's going on in divorce court here, but attorneys I talked to say they aren't seeing an increase in clients reopening divorce cases asking for more alimony or efforts to pay less based on the economic times. But what those same attorneys say they are seeing-- couples deciding not to get divorced at all.

“It seems like a lot of people got divorced because they fought over a spike where there was an increase in the value of the house. Now there is nothing to fight over. We have fore closures, just like a repossessed car, the banks can come after you for what was not paid. So a lot of people are grinning and bearing it,” says King

In other parts of the country, this issue is being debated in state legislatures. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma, lawmakers are looking at restricting alimony to a certain time frame, and in some cases ending the common practice of using a second spouse’s assets to determine the ability of a person to pay alimony.