Irene Georgakis, a housewife in Queens, filed for divorce after learning on Valentine’s Day 2007 that her husband of 24 years had a girlfriend. She thought she’d hit bottom.

Then the economy nose-dived, and things got worse. Georgakis, 54, said her husband, George, 64, owner of five New York-based companies, is balking at paying support and using the recession to claim poverty after making millions during their marriage.

The Georgakises are among couples in broken marriages fighting the economy in addition to each other as they try to divvy up assets from homes to artworks that have plunged in value.

Couples bent on splitting estates have had to redo the math when asset values proved less than they had counted on to split up.

Some are racing back to court to ask for new alimony terms. Others have chosen to stay in bad marriages rather than lock in losses in asset values, their divorce lawyers said.

Financial-industry downsizing makes it easier for unemployed and underemployed professionals to minimize alimony by claiming their plunge in fortunes isn’t short-lived, said Cynthia Hartwell, a divorce-lawyer in Greenwich, Conn.

If the breadwinner or your employer has been affected by the downturn, it is a good time to get divorced, Hartwell said. They can come to court with a compelling argument that they can no longer earn what they used to earn.

George Zahringer, a former managing director at Bear Stearns Cos., urged a judge Jan. 12 at a hearing in Stamford, Conn., to cancel an order increasing alimony to his ex-wife, Celia, from $25,000 a month to $87,000 including retroactive payments.

He has lost his job, his attorney Richard Albrecht said. He has lost his fortune. He lost all his equity in Bear Stearns. He cannot pay $87,000 and support his present family in any way. He is not making a million a year.

Setting support levels is particularly difficult when both spouses are unemployed or work in an industry with widespread cuts in jobs and pay.

The year-old recession yanked the rug from under the value of investments, homes and art. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has fallen 39 percent in 12 months; the housing market is in free fall; partnership distributions and bonuses have withered; and the art market has dropped.