My attorney misguided me and I missed filing for alimoney prior to divorce filing. Can I file now?

If your absolute divorce has already been entered and you did not have a claim for alimony pending before the divorce judgment, you generally cannot file a new alimony claim afterward in North Carolina.

This is one of the most important deadlines in North Carolina family law. A claim for alimony must be asserted before the absolute divorce is entered in order to preserve it. The same issue can arise with equitable distribution claims.

If your attorney was responsible for allowing the divorce judgment to be entered without preserving an alimony claim that you intended to pursue, I would recommend speaking promptly with another North Carolina family law attorney. The attorney should review the pleadings, the divorce judgment, the timing of the case, and whether there are any unusual procedural circumstances that could affect the analysis.

No, alimony is waived upon entry of the divorce judgment if a claim for alimony is not pending at the time the divorce is entered.  This is pursuant to NCGS 50-11

Unfortunately, the general answer is no. In North Carolina, a claim for alimony must be pending before the absolute divorce is entered. Once the divorce is final, the right to bring that claim is ordinarily lost. In limited circumstances, it may be possible to ask the court to set aside the divorce judgment, but simply not knowing that the alimony claim needed to be filed is unlikely, by itself, to be sufficient. You should speak with a family-law attorney promptly to determine whether the specific circumstances surrounding the judgment provide any basis for relief.