Spousal Maintenance
Another difficult category of divorce is spousal maintenance. When a divorce is finalized, a Minnesota court may order one partner to pay spousal maintenance to the other. This is commonly known as alimony. The purpose of paying alimony or spousal maintenance is to provide financial assistance to the lower earning (ex)spouse in order for that person to maintain a reasonable standard of living. Many variables go into determining alimony payments and Del Blocher law firm will assist clients in finding an appropriate divorce financial planners, certified divorce financial analysis, business valuators, vocational evaluations, and in determining value in situations where one spouse devoted time and energy into raising the family vs. progressing their career.
Typical factors that are considered when determining spousal maintenance include but are not limited to:
- The financial resources of the spouse seeking alimony including marital property and child support.
- The age and health of the spouse seeking maintenance.
- Time it will take the spouse to get education or skills necessary to become self-supporting, and the likelihood of that happening.
- The standard of living the couple established during the marriage.
- Length of the marriage.
- Length of time that one parent was not working (staying at home) and the resulting diminished capacity of earning incoming after taking career lapse.
- Loss of earnings, career advancement, retirement benefits, and other employment opportunities forgone by the spouse seeking maintenance.
- The ability spouse expected to pay maintenance to provide quality of living financially to both parties.
- Each spouse’s influence on the worth of marital property and the contribution of a spouse who was a homemaker or helped the other’s employment/business.