Once alimony has been requested during the divorce process, it is important to be familiar with how it is decided. The divorce court will take a hard look at a variety of different factors when determining whether or not to award alimony; how much alimony to award; and for how long.
Alimony is not one-size-fits all and factors are used to determining what type of alimony award would be most important including:
- The couple’s standard of living during the marriage;
- The length of the couple’s marriage;
- The ages of the spouses;
- The physical and emotional conditions of both of the spouses;
- The financial resources of each of the spouses;
- The income-earning capacities of each of the spouses;
- The income-producing capacity of the assets of each of the spouses that is received by each of the spouses;
- The time necessary to acquire the education and training necessary to secure appropriate employment; and
- Any services rendered by one of the spouses homemaking, child rearing or supporting the education or career building of the other spouse.
Alimony is a payment one former spouse makes to the other. When alimony has been requested, the paying spouse may oppose request. To do that, they should be aware of the ways in which alimony is determined and the spouse requesting alimony should also understand that process.
It will help both divorcing spouses better address their alimony concerns during the divorce process. Alimony can be a source of tension between the divorcing couple that the divorce court can help them work out using the above factors.
