The Nation - News from April 7, 1989

White women are nearly twice as likely as blacks to receive alimony, according to a Census Bureau report that also says older women and college graduates are more likely to receive payments from a former spouse. Alimony was awarded to 15.8% of white women whose marriages had broken up, compared with 8% of blacks. The alimony rate for Latino women was 11%. The report, “Child Support and Alimony, 1985,” also repeated figures, detailed by the Census Bureau last August, showing a significant decline in child support payments received by women from 1983 to 1985. The new version adds details on alimony and property settlements when couples are divorced or separated.