Different Types of Spousal Support/Maintenance
Spousal support or maintenance is known as alimony in legal terms. The tenure and amount of spousal support greatly depend on the jury’s judgment regarding certain factors involved in the marriage and divorce. Some states, like Indiana and Texas, have well-defined spousal support laws. In these states, the support and maintenance is restricted to three years only. However, in some cases, the tenure of spousal support can be increased. In many states, the tenure of support entirely depends on the jury’s decision. For example, some juries do not issue orders for any kind of spousal support if the marriage has lasted less than 10 years.
Spousal support and maintenance is distributed into short-term and long-term support. The former is commonly known as rehabilitation, and the latter is known as reimbursement. Sometimes, the former spouse receives more than one kind of support. For example, if the former spouse depends on rehabilitation and receives short-term support from other spouse, then rehabilitation support will automatically end when the former spouse gets employed. Here is a lowdown on the different types of spousal support and maintenance.
Short-Term or Temporary Support Before Divorce
The jury will order temporary support from the high earning spouse to the low earning spouse until the divorce process completes. As soon as the divorce process completes, the jury will terminate short-term or temporary support and issue the other kind of support, based on the legal grounds.
Temporary support should always be documented and signed by both spouses. For a signed agreement, the payments are tax deductible. If the high earning spouse is not agreed on the amount suggested by the low earning spouse then both spouses will spend more time in the court, arguing over the decision. Ideally, both spouses should decide the temporary support amount even before filing the divorce.
Rehabilitation
The court orders the high earning spouse to support the low earning spouse for a certain time, until the low earning spouse settles or rehabilitates. The tenure of rehabilitation or short-term support is not destined in advance. The court orders the dependant spouse to settle in life as soon as possible, whereas the high earning spouse is bound to support the dependant spouse until then. Rehabilitation support is terminated as soon as the low earning spouse is back to work. If the high earning spouse suspects that the dependant spouse is intentionally avoiding rehabilitation then the high earning spouse can request the court to reduce the amount of support.
Long-Term/Permanent Support
In some American states, permanent support is not allowed. Long-term or permanent support is usually ordered for divorces after at least 10 years of marriage. It is justified with the fact that the dependant spouse is unlikely to rejoin the work or handle the financial needs independently.
Reimbursement Support
It is a compensatory long-term support. Reimbursement support is granted when one of the spouses have given up career or professional growth for the progress and professional growth of other spouse. In reimbursement support, the well-established spouse is required to support the dependant spouse in career, education, professional growth, and life advancement until the dependant spouse establishes well in life. The establishment level is determined by calculating the gains, which would have occurred, if the dependant spouse had not left the growth.
Obtaining sufficient spouse support and maintenance is your legal right. By hiring an attorney, you can get your legal right hassle-free.
Contact the Law Office of Fedor Kozlov P.C., today at (847) 241-1299 or online to schedule a free initial consultation.