What Qualifies You to Receive Alimony?
Emotions, stress, and all the legal considerations involved in divorce proceedings can take a toll on your mental and financial well-being. Understanding your rights and what you’re entitled to can also be confusing. One complicated issue, in particular, surrounding divorce is alimony payments. Alimony, or spousal maintenance, is a payment of money you or your ex is responsible for paying the other directly following a legal separation or divorce.
What determines if you’ll pay or receive alimony? And how much money can you can expect to receive or pay? The answers will vary across states, but here’s what you’ll need to know if you’re separating from your spouse in Minnesota.
How Long Does A Spouse Pay Alimony?
The purpose of alimony is to provide financial support to the lower income-earning spouse so he or she may maintain a reasonable standard of living as he or she had while married.
There are three different durations of alimony in Minnesota, including:
- Temporary Order: Alimony that is set up while a divorce is still pending, and the amount is typically based on each spouse’s income.
- Short Term: Payment that is assigned for a limited amount of time after the divorce is final to assist one spouse with job training or education.
- Long Term: If the marriage was long term or if the spouse is unable to become self-supporting, a court may also grant this in addition to child support, if the spouse is the primary caregiver of a child with significant mental, physical, or medical needs.
Remember the longer the marriage, the longer the court may extend your alimony payment duration. A court may terminate long-term alimony, however, if the spouse who is receiving alimony remarries.
How Much Alimony Will You Receive or Payout?
Though there is no set amount for alimony in every divorce proceeding, there are many factors that influence the final amount. According to the Minnesota Statute 518.552, the following considerations may include:
- Financial resources of the party seeking alimony
- Standard of living established during the marriage
- Time necessary to gain sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking alimony to find appropriate employment
- Probability of the spouse seeking alimony of completing education or training to become fully or partially self-supporting
- Age, physical, and emotional condition of spouse seeking alimony
- Ability of spouse from whom alimony is being requested from to meet their own needs while fulfilling those of the spouse seeking alimony
- Contribution of each party in the amount of the marital property, as well as the contribution of a spouse as a homemaker
- Duration of the marriage
Find a Minneapolis Divorce Lawyer Near You
The legal issues you may encounter during a divorce are numerous and complex, and these can be exasperated when money is involved. As experienced divorce attorneys in Minneapolis, KTF Law Firm invites you to schedule a free consultation with us today. We specialize in divorce proceedings, alimony, child support, and more, and will review your case and be your advocate throughout the entire process. Contact us today to learn more!
