Fraud Blocker

Spousal Support

Helping to Protect Your Financial Future

Whether you are seeking spousal support, or being ordered to pay it, you will need to do everything possible to ensure you understand it properly and adhere to the court orders. The first thing to understand is that most divorces do not result in spousal support of any kind, especially if the marriage lasted only a few years or fewer. Generally speaking, spousal support (formerly known as “alimony”) can be ordered when one spouse worked during the marriage while the other did not, or when there is a substantial disparity in income between the spouses.

When spousal support is awarded, there are two types:

  • Temporary Spousal Support – Temporary spousal support is awarded for a specific set of time in order to help one spouse to transition into the single life. This could be given for a year, for example, while employment training is achieved.
  • Permanent Spousal Support – While not very common today, there are some cases when permanent spousal support is awarded. This is often when there is some type of disability in place that is preventing the receiving spouse from working.

The intent behind a spousal support award is to ensure that both parties to a divorce walk away with the same quality of life which they enjoyed during their marriage, and it may even involve a court order to one spouse to seek work, enter vocational rehab, or participate in vocational counseling.

No matter which side of the issue you are on, it is always in your best interest to work with an attorney who wants to focus on getting the right results, not just getting even with the other party. Attorney Madan Ahluwalia highly recommends using options like mediation or other non-litigious solutions to these types of conflicts because they almost always produce results that both parties are satisfied with.

Unlike child support, spousal support is a subjective calculation and there are numerous factors which can impact a court’s decision whether or not to award spousal support, how long to award the support, and how much. Your best course of action is to sit down with a knowledgeable Family Law attorney like Madan Ahluwalia who will help you fully understand how spousal support works and how it may be applied to your unique circumstances. Please contact us
 to set up a consultation today.