During a divorce, a judge will consider factors including marriage length, earning capacity and financial resources when determining alimony.
If you’re going through a divorce, you know there are a lot of factors to consider—if you have children, you’ll be setting up child custody or visitation schedules. If you own property together, you’ll have to figure out who gets what.
Another common actor of divorce is alimony, also known as spousal support.
By definition, alimony is a type of financial support provided to a spouse during and/or after a divorce or legal separation.
So, how do you know if you’re entitled to alimony, or if your spouse may be? Here are a few things to consider when it comes to spousal support in Michigan.
Marriage length: If you’ve been married for less than five years, it’s unlikely that a court will grant either spouse alimony, however, that is not absolute. There are, of course, extenuating circumstances that may sway the courts opinion.
Earning capacity and workforce re-entry: When a marriage comes to an end and one spouse has supported the other for a while, a judge may deem spousal support necessary until thee supported spouse has the ability to re-enter the workforce. In this situation, the other spouse has been working for years, so a judge may feel it’s necessary for alimony to be paid to the other party for a set amount of time.
Financial resources: Whether or not the husband or wife has the ability to live on their own while supporting themselves and children will be taken into consideration. If a spouse didn’t work for some time yet has a great deal of money in his or her savings account, this is considered a financial resource that could be tapped into with alimony not necessarily being granted.
Marriage contribution: A judge will likely consider how each party has financially contributed to the marriage when determining alimony. In the case of a stay at home spouse, the judge will consider this a form of ‘work and support’ that was contributed to the household.
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If you have questions about spousal support or are going through a divorce and need proper legal assistance, we’d love to help. Contact our law firm today to schedule your free, no obligation consultation by calling (248) 588-3333 when you’re ready.
We look forward to working with you and fighting for your rights every step of the way.