When a marriage comes to an end, there are plenty of things to be settled and discussed. So, before you head to OnlineDivorcer to finalize your marriage in no time, discover the peculiarities of your case and sort out the main issues to get divorced with benefits.
Suppose you used to rely on your spouse financially and understand you won’t be able to cover the living expenses on your own, then the appropriate measures are to be taken. You should request alimony and learn about the details in advance. How long is alimony paid, what type of support is best for you, whether you qualify for spousal support at all?
There might also be alimony cases in which a woman asks the court for alimony, but the child’s current father still believes he’s not the father of the child. In this case, then there’s always the option to perform a paternity test utah (or a paternity test wherever he is located) so that he becomes free from having to pay that said alimony.
The more you get ready for your divorce case and learn beforehand, the easier it will be for you to reach the desired results. So check out the alimony details and get ready to end up your marriage positively.
Requirements for Alimony
Whether you qualify for alimony or not depends on the local law and the judge’s decision stipulated by it. Overall, in case you can prove that you will not handle the minimum living expenses on your own after divorce and your soon-to-be-ex can assist you in the situation, you can ask for spousal support.
Additionally, when you are the main responsible adult in the child custody agreement, you have more reasons to get support from the non-custodial parent.
If you are on the other side of the situation and wonder when do you have to pay alimony apart from the mentioned circumstances, here are some additional points to consider:
- your spouse and/or children have suffered domestic violence within 2 years from divorce;
- your spouse has a mental or physical disability preventing them from earning for a living;
- the marriage lasted not less than ten years before the divorce, and your spouse cannot provide themselves with decent income;
- your mutual kid has a disability so that your spouse takes care of them not having the possibility to earn a living.
These and other details are described in your local state law so that you’d better discuss the alimony issue with your attorney or any other relevant expert to discover whether you qualify for it.
Types of Alimony
Once you know that you are eligible to bring your ex to paying spousal support, it is time to discover what type of alimony is suitable for your situation.
Here are the most common types of alimony that can be assigned in most states:
- temporary alimony – in case you need spousal support right from the moment your divorce proceedings begin, you have to require temporary alimony. Yet, they will be paid as long as the marriage termination process lasts. After that, another type of alimony should be assigned if necessary.
- permanent or long-term support – as the name stipulates, this alimony type is assigned for a long time. The due date can be the death of the spouse, retirement, or alimony receiver getting married again.
- rehabilitative alimony – this spousal support is granted when one of the spouses cannot cover the living expenses at the moment of divorce since they used to be financially dependent on their spouse. The rehabilitative alimony is given for the estimated time necessary for the receiver to regain the possibility to earn a living.
- reimbursement alimony – if the spouse who currently needs financial support invested in their partner before, for example, in business or education, the latter one can be made to pay the exact amount back. The alimony will be paid until all the costs are reimbursed.
When you can predict what type of alimony you can hope for, you will be able to pre-calculate how long you will receive it and plan your post-divorce life respectively. Yet, there are some additional factors to consider.
Factors to Impact Alimony Duration
In the case of temporary and long-term support, it is easier to determine how long your soon-to-be-ex will pay alimony to you. But if you are assigned with rehabilitative or reimbursement types, there are several peculiarities to bear in mind.
In many families, one partner wins the bread while another cares about kids and the household. It is obvious that over the years of marriage the latter spouse loses qualifications and sometimes cannot boast a complete education and years of experience behind. So, the person is granted spousal support for the time necessary to finish studying and get a sufficient job to cover minimum expenses.
If the judge decides that reimbursement alimony is the best for your situation, your past investment will be taken into account. Your partner will be assigned to pay you off the same amount of money during the same period of time to duplicate your previous investment.
Typical Duration of Alimony
In addition to surrounding factors and the reasons you ask for spousal support, there is a typical scheme that determines how long is alimony paid.
The alimony duration is defined by the duration of marriage in the following way:
- under 5 years – you will receive the financial support for half of your marriage time;
- between 10 and 20 years – you are to be assigned with the alimony for 70% of your marriage time;
- over 20 years – in such cases permanent alimony is appointed.
Still, you cannot consider the marriage-duration scheme only. It is taken into account together with other factors and your marriage and divorce details. If you want to pre-calculate the alimony duration with maximum precision, study your case and consult with the lawyers for the best outcomes.
It’s also worth noting that, while moving on from a divorce situation can be hard, meeting new people can still make the process of having to cope with such event much, much easier.
