Entitlement, amount, duration, modification, and termination

Black-letter propositions

1. 01

   Factors commonly include income, earning capacity, age, health, marriage duration, standard of living, contributions, childcare, and property division.

2. 02

   Support may be temporary, rehabilitative, durational, reimbursement-based, or indefinite.

3. 03

   Modification ordinarily requires a substantial unanticipated change unless agreement or statute makes the term nonmodifiable.

4. 04

   Support commonly terminates at death, and may terminate on remarriage or qualifying cohabitation under local law.

5. 05

   Courts can secure support through insurance, liens, withholding, or contempt subject to ability to pay.

Use this attack sequence under time

Common wrong turns

• Marital fault is not always relevant.
• Voluntary income reduction can support imputation.
• Property division cannot casually be relabeled modifiable support.

Worked example

A supported spouse completes promised training and earns substantially more, while the order permits modification.

Practice this topic

Purpose and types

Cornell defines spousal support, also called alimony, as a legal obligation to provide financial support to a spouse before or after separation or divorce. Its purpose is to limit unfair economic effects of divorce by giving continuing income to a non-wage-earning or lower-wage-earning spouse. Cornell's marital property entry lists three types: permanent alimony, temporary alimony and rehabilitative alimony.

Permanent alimony continues for the payer's life or until the recipient remarries. Temporary alimony covers the property division litigation. Rehabilitative alimony follows the property proceedings and helps a spouse with lesser earning capacity adjust to post-marital life.

Amount and duration

Cornell says amounts may depend on the ages of the parties, the length of the marriage, degrees earned, net monthly income and expenses. Payments may be a lump sum or monthly, and duration is often tied to the length of the marriage, so a longer marriage generally means a longer award.

NCBE's outline lists factors for awards: rehabilitative or transitional goals, the payor's ability to pay, the recipient's ability to provide for their own needs, and reimbursement for expenses incurred during marriage. It also lists the impact of labeling an award permanent or temporary, and modifiable or nonmodifiable.

Modification

The outline lists awareness of jurisdictional variations in the standard for modifying awards where they are modifiable, such as a substantial change in circumstances. It also lists the potential for statutory guidelines, premarital contracts or settlement agreements to control.

Cornell's sources do not state when alimony terminates other than remarriage or the payer's death for permanent awards, so state the rule your course teaches. Name the type of award, whether it is modifiable, and the change in circumstances the movant relies on.

Frequently asked questions