Spousal support (formerly called alimony) are payments made to one spouse after the parties separate and to help the other spouse get on his/her feet financially. The purpose of support is desiged to temporarily help fill the financial gap. The court will order spousal support whenever one spouse has a need and the other spouse has the ability to pay spousal support. The amount of spousal support ordered is discretionary; there is no sure-fire way to predict how much spousal support a judge will order. Almost always, though, if a spousal support order is made, the payor-spouse will probably also be ordered to pay attorney fees.

The goal of spousal support is to try to equalize the net (after-tax) incomes of the parties long enough for the lower wage-earner to become self-supporting. As a rule of thumb, spousal support is usually ordered for a term not to exceed one-half the length of the marriage. However, if you were married for more than ten years, the marriage is a “lengthy” one. This is a legal term and means that the court’s discretionary powers have limits. Anyone who has a lengthy marriage has the possibility of paying or receiving spousal support for the rest of his/her life. Even if spousal support is ordered for an indefinite amount of time, it can be stopped under certain circumstances. For instance, if the supported spouse remarries, if the supported spouse lives with a member of the opposite sex, or if the support spouse deliberately fails to earn income spousal support can be stopped by going to court and requesting a modification.

Spousal support awards are unpredictable. The court is given great discretion when it comes to awarding or denying spousal support. As a result, beware: when it comes to spousal support, the results are unpredictible. Because spousal support is so unpredictible, it should be litigated by an experienced, competent divorce lawyer.