michigan Spousal Support Lawyer
The legal process of dissolving a marriage in Michigan includes many steps, including addressing the financial stability of both spouses after their divorce.
Even when there are no children involved, the court sometimes decides that one former spouse should help the other with finances post-divorce. These payments are known as spousal support, or alimony.
Courts take specific rules and circumstances into account when determining whether and how much spousal support to award. At the Bloomfield Family Law Firm, we know how these considerations work and how to help our clients with their alimony needs. Consider working with one of our spousal support lawyers for professional help and guidance in your case.
Spousal Support in Michigan
After divorce, life is different. And sometimes, supporting yourself on your own after being in a marriage with two incomes can be challenging.
The idea behind spousal support is to provide financial help to a former spouse who may have more difficulty adjusting to the new financial situation after their marriage is dissolved and assets are split. But unlike child support, there is no specific formula that Michigan courts follow to determine spousal support. Instead, courts decide spousal support on a case-by-case basis.
If either spouse is asking the judge to consider spousal support, the following factors will be taken into account:
Conduct during the marriage, or fault
The length of the marriage
The ages, health, and needs of the parties
Ability to work
Ability to pay spousal support
Current living situation of the parties
Prior standard of living of the parties
Whether either party has other people to support
What each party has contributed to the joint estate
Whether either party lives with someone else
Fairness
Longer marriages and divorces including people who have not worked during the marriage are more likely to result in spousal support awards. However, if an older spouse is retired and living on a fixed income, that could weigh against awarding spousal support. Spouses can actually choose to agree on spousal support as part of their divorce proceedings and property division, if they wish. But many times spouses disagree about alimony, and either party can benefit from having a local attorney on their side.
Permanent vs Temporary Alimony in Oakland and macomb County
Spousal support payments can either be made in one lump-sum or periodically. Lump-sum spousal support is paid all at once, but periodic alimony is paid over time, in either monthly or yearly installments. Periodic payments can either be temporary or permanent.
Temporary spousal support is usually designated to give someone a limited amount of time to get a degree or gain job skills, or until another event that will improve their financial situation.
Permanent spousal support is usually awarded at the end of a long-term marriage, particularly when one of the following is true:
The recipient is elderly
The recipient has little education
The recipient has little work experience
The recipient has little or no income
Alimony arrangements are subject to change unless the parties agreed in their divorce proceedings to not allow changes down the road. But in most circumstances, either party can request a change in spousal support, and the judge will consider a change if there are new factors to take into consideration. For example, Michigan law dictates that spousal support can be terminated when the recipient of the payments remarries. However, if the recipient is merely cohabitating with a new person, the court requires more evidence before it will terminate alimony payments.