How to get Alimony in a Divorce
Divorce Papers > Divorce Alimony > How to get Alimony in a Divorce
Alimony is one of the major issue when filing a divorce procedure. No all the spouses when ending their marriage are bestowed with this privilege. There are certain criteria that needs to be fulfilled in order to be eligible to get alimony. Spouses who are opting out of a marriage should know about this important criteria.
Techniques Regarding How to get Alimony in a Divorce
- The spouses must disclose data regarding their respective earning capacities as well as other incomes like capital gains, dividends and interest. The best evidences of income are the bank records and the income tax records.
- The partners must explain their role as a homemaker and/or as a parent. The role of each partner in the marriage has value. The input to the marriage may not be essentially monetary. Any input that one partner has made to the career as well as education of the other is also worth consideration.
- Each spouse must furnish evidence pertaining to the standard of living with which he/she is conversant with during the marital life. An example of this point is that if the spouse gets a weekly massage or has a weekly maid service these points must be proved. Further, it is reasonable to demand the spouse to continue the payment for these expenditures.
- The recipient of alimony should ensure that in case the payer dies or is disabled, there is a disability as well as life insurance policy. This should be adequate enough to cover the income of the spousal support.
- The two spouses must talk with one another regarding the amount and number of months for which the maintenance must be paid. The duration for which spousal support must be paid may be as brief as one year or for a lifetime. These payments may cease if the recipient cohabits or remarries with a new person.
- If both the spouses cannot reach a certain negotiation, they must involve the judge to review the situation. The judge takes into account those factors that are presented by both the spouses to determine the terms of alimony.
- If both the spouses reside in the same house, alimony is not awarded. So, they must compulsorily live in different residences in order to avail alimony.
- The amount paid while the divorce litigation is in progress is called as the Pendente Lite alimony. The spouses must bear in mind that this is not a credit towards the decision of the final divorce decree and
- Alimony is disbursed only when it is mentioned in the divorce agreement. As per the legal definition of alimony, if any other sort of agreement is made, it is not considered as alimony
How to get Alimony in a Divorce through discussions
- The spouses must talk with one another regarding the joint finances. They must estimate how much money each needs in order to carry out their daily needs of life. The partners must find answers to the following questions, a few of which are:
- Does the couple have adequate assets that can be refinanced or sold to repay the debts?
- If the couple has a child, who should get primary custody? How does the child support amount effect maintenance? and
- What is the amount of marital debt?
- The couple seeking divorce must determine a mutually agreeable neutral meeting spot. If one of the partners does not have any income, the other partner must be willing to disburse some amount. This does not essentially mean permanent periodic alimony. Sometimes, both may accede to the concept of rehabilitative alimony (i.e. payments made till the needy spouse becomes self reliant).
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