Spousal Support and Alimony Attorney Llano and Cypress, TX

When a couple separates our divorces, financial support is often a concern. Transitioning from a household with two incomes to a household with one may create a financial hardship for one spouse or both spouses. For spouses that worked in the home, they may not even have the skills, education or experience to find a job that supports them or maintains their current standard of living.

Spousal support or alimony are a payment from one spouse to another. It is intended to assist a spouse who did not work during the marriage or is much less in the other spouse and provides for their financial needs after the divorce.

At Winfrey your Law Firm PLLC, we understand that it can be very frightening to hear the phrases spousal support and alimony thrown around. That is why we believe in defining the difference between the two phrases. The truth is, there is no difference; they are synonymous and mean the same thing. Alimony is typically an outdated term that is associated more with men supporting women, but spousal support has nothing to do with gender. In fact, the only thing spousal support takes into account is the means and resources that can be used to support the ex-spouse that requires the support. Spousal support focuses on income and earning potential, not gender roles. 

Sometimes spousal support may be tied to a fault, but it depends on your state. Bring all questions about your state’s laws and regulations involving your divorce to your lawyer at Winfrey Law Firm PLLC. The law firm is prepared to answer all questions you might have about spousal support and alimony.

Some such questions may be who can seek spousal support? The answer to that is very simple, a person may seek spousal support during a legal separation, a divorce, domestic violence cases, and an annulment. Spousal support is considered being available for spouses, domestic Partners, same-sex spouses, and former spouses. Spousal support may be temporary, long-term, or permanent depending on the case’s facts. The amount that the spousal support is depends on a lot of factors.

Some factors that your judge may take into account when determining how much stop support and alimony you will receive, is the duration of the marriage or domestic partnership, the age, health, earning capacity of each person involved in the relationship. The judge will also take into account the standard of living that was enjoyed by the spouses during the marriage, the needs of each person, the resources and income that each person has available to them, and whether a spouse may require additional education, training or skills to obtain a job.

The duration of the marriage or how long the marriage went on well usually plays a role in deciding how long spousal support will continue after a divorce. And in most cases spousal support does not continue for no longer than half the duration of the marriage. The court may or may not set a termination date.