Alimony/Spousal Maintenance
Alimony or otherwise known as spousal maintenance is not automatic in Texas. There are several main factors that go into determining eligibility for alimony. These include:
- The financial resources of the spouse seeking support
- Education and employment skills, time necessary for education or vocational training
- Duration of the marriage
- Age, employment history, earning ability, as well as the emotional and physical well being of the spouse
- The efforts of the spouse seeking spousal maintenance to obtain suitable employment
The law has limited the amount of spousal maintenance: the support cannot exceed $2,500.00 per month or 20% of the ex-spouse's average monthly gross income. The amount set normally will be only enough to provide the receiving spouse with the minimal reasonable needs considering that spouse's employment or property received in the divorce or otherwise owned that contributes to meeting the spouse's minimum reasonable needs.
The maximum length of receiving alimony is three years unless the former spouse receiving maintenance is unable to support himself because of incapacitating physical or mental disability. Alimony can also end with the death of either party or upon the remarriage of the party receiving maintenance.
Spousal maintenance will not be ordered between parties who are living together and who have never married and each support order is decided on a case by case basis and not awarded straight across the board.
The information presented here is a general guideline and should not be interpreted as a guarantee. Results may vary from case to case depending on the facts and circumstances of your case.