You don't think the idea of having to support a spouse as if they were incapacitated or a child for years after you've gone your separate ways absurd? In a society where supposedly, both men and women are equal to boot? And the base justification being little more than that you happened to have lived together for a time as partners.
It's a really strange way to run an insurance program. A portion of your salary goes to mandatory unemployment insurance in Germany. If alimony was fair it would be charged the same way on married people and paid by both parties.
Well then now that you’re divorced you need to go find a job. Sure it may not pay as well as it might have but you had the pleasure of staying at home and spending time with the kids. Why is the working person the only one punished in this situation?
Alimony is useful in a context where wages are sufficient for one parent to stay at home full-time. Part of the reason it seems so out of place today is that as a society we've let average wages stagnate so far that living on one wage is impossible for most couples.
I agree with everything except leave the children behind. That should be a decision made by the judge on who is the better parent or at least a sharing based situation.