Bronx Alimony and Maintenance Lawyers

Bronx Alimony and Maintenance Lawyers

Many people who are considering a divorce often worry about if they are entitled to financial support from their spouse and for how much. Your Bronx alimony and maintenance lawyers can work closely with you to show you exactly what you may be entitled to so that a financial solution can be implemented that will allow both of the parties to still maintain that standard of living they both enjoyed while married. Awarding maintenance, formerly known as alimony, can be based on the spouses ability to pay, so it is imperative to work with a skilled maintenance lawyer that will fight on your behalf to get you your fair share.

Determining the Alimony Amount
The reason why so many people are confused about the qualifications and amounts of the alimony awards are because the courts have the discretion to choose the award based on one spouses needs and the others ability to pay. This is not only a complicated situation, it can be a very fine line to walk when you are trying to divide the money so that both can still maintain their way of living while married. Your Bronx alimony and maintenance lawyers understand these complicated laws, and they will work tirelessly to apply the law in your unique situation.

Depending on the details of the divorce and the monies available to be divided up, your attorney may have one of three options pertaining to maintenance payments.

Temporary Maintenance Award
There are some instances where the courts are only willing to provide a temporary maintenance award. The details with the temporary maintenance award are very straight-forward. Financial support will be awarded to one spouse during the divorce proceedings, but the payments will cease when the judgement for the dissolution has been entered. These particular situations can be a result of a number of unique circumstances. The court may have determined that due to the details of the divorce, payments are only entitled during this time, or perhaps the case can be reopened after the marriage is dissolved.

In either event, the Bronx alimony and maintenance lawyers will request this award so the spouse has financial support during their divorce proceedings.

Rehabilitative Maintenance
Now unlike the temporary maintenance award, your Bronx alimony and maintenance lawyers may feel that the rehabilitative maintenance should be pursued now because the marriage is close to being dissolved. Temporary payments end when that day occurs, so rather than being without financial support once the marriage is over, the rehabilitative maintenance is like a bridge that will continue to provide financial support from the day the marriage is over. The rehabilitative maintenance is a safety net for one spouse who needs financial support on a short-term basis. Perhaps it will be a few weeks or months until they can get back to work to support themselves, this type of award will bridge that gap for a predetermined amount of time.

Your Bronx alimony and maintenance lawyers will detail the exact time needed and request the rehabilitative maintenance so the one spouse has adequate time to recover from the financial support of the other spouse. The payments will continue until that receiving party gains the necessary skills to be self-sufficient, usually by way of education or training.

Permanent Maintenance
Your Bronx alimony and maintenance lawyers will request permanent maintenance if the receiving party does lack the financial resources to support themselves because they have been dependent on their spouse throughout the marriage. These types of awards can be modified if the receiving party has a change in their circumstances, which usually entail getting remarried or finding work that exceeds their maintenance award. These awards are usually based on the needs of the receiving spouse that is seeking support and the ability of the other spouse to pay.

Your alimony attorney will present to the court details concerning the length of the marriage, disparity of incomes between spouses, ages and health of both spouses, and the distribution of marital property. This process takes into account several factors, all of which your lawyer understands and can present to the court in a favorable manner.

By working with the best Bronx alimony and maintenance lawyers, you will not have to burden yourself trying to determine how much you are entitled to. Your attorney will carefully research the financial records and make certain that you are awarded a fair share that will allow you to continue to enjoy your standard of living after the marriage is dissolved.

New York state law includes provisions for alimony, also known as spousal maintenance in divorce cases. Alimony or maintenance is defined as a monetary support paid from one spouse to another, according to Cornell Law School. Maintenance or alimony can be paid on a temporary basis, during divorce proceedings. It can also be paid following the conclusion of divorce proceedings. New York law establishes certain parameters governing when and how maintenance or alimony is awarded in marriage dissolution proceedings.

How Does Spousal Maintenance Work?

As a general rule, the spouse who earns a higher income would be the one ordered to pay their ex-spouse a fee each month called alimony. It typically only happens when one spouse earns substantially more money than the other one. A common scenario is when a husband works and his wife who stayed home with the children throughout their entire marriage and she never earned an income. She’s not able to bring the kind of money in the way her husband did to support the kind of life she and/or the children are accustomed to living.  Therefore, the husband may be ordered by the family court to pay spousal maintenance

.Do All Divorces Have Alimony or Spousal Maintenance Ordered?

The ordering of  spousal maintenance order (sometimes known as spousal support, commonly referred to in the past as alimony) is definitely not an obligatory part of a bronx divorce. The family court will take a number of factors into account when determining whether, to what extent, and for what length of time spousal maintenance would be appropriate. Some of these factors the include:

• The age and health of each of the spouses
• The length of time the spouses were married
• Any children in the marriage in the respective homes of the ex-spouses
• Any exceptional expenses for the child/children.  These can including but are by no means limited to school tuition, daycare and medical treatment
• The petitioning party’s capability of becoming self-supporting and, if necessary, the time and training they would need to get them to a point of self-sufficiency.
• The equitable distribution of the community or marital estate

Temporary Maintenance

In some New York divorce cases, temporary maintenance will be ordered or agreed to between the spouses. Temporary maintenance is designed to assist a spouse in a divorce case in meeting more immediate financial needs. It is based on a consideration of those needs, coupled with a recognition of that spouse’s standard of living that exited during the course of the marriage.

The state of New York has established very specific guidelines in regard to temporary maintenance. This includes a worksheet designed to calculate the presumed amount of maintenance potentially awarded on a temporary basis while divorce proceedings are ongoing.

Temporary maintenance typically remains in effect until a final divorce decree is entered in a case. In some cases, a temporary maintenance order may be altered or even eliminated in advance of the final divorce decree.

As a general rule, a court in divorce proceedings must follow the temporary maintenance guidelines established by New York law. A court is able to deviate from the state-mandated temporary maintenance guidelines is the result of the guidelines calculation proves to be unjust or inappropriate.

Post-Divorce Alimony or Maintenance

New York state law establishes some general guidelines that are utilized in calculating post-divorce alimony or maintenance. Unlike with temporary maintenance, New York law does not set forth a specific formula for determining or calculating post-divorce maintenance.

The factors that come into consideration when determining post-divorce maintenance include the length of the marriage, the potential earning capacities of both spouses, the ability of the spouse seeking alimony to become self supporting, and the overall health of both parties. Other considerations when determining Post-Divorce Alimony or Maintenance include the loss of income of one of the spouses as the result of giving up a career and the loss of health insurance benefits by a spouse as a result of the marriage termination.

Timeframe for Post-Divorce Alimony or Maintenance

New York law establishes two types of timeframes when it comes to post-divorce maintenance. Post-divorce alimony can be durational or non-durational.

Durational maintenance is alimony that is received following a divorce for a specified period of time. A set timeframe is established based on the premise that the receiving spouse will become self supporting during that period of time.

Non-durational maintenance is also known as lifetime alimony. It has no termination date. This type of maintenance order is rare in New York. Non-durational maintenance is ordered in situations that include a receiving spouse that is ill, older, or not likely to be able to find gainful employment.

If the party receiving maintenance remarries, the payments typically terminate. There can be possible exceptions to such a termination. However, they would be extremely rare.

Obtaining a Maintenance Order

A person has only one real opportunity to obtain a post-divorce maintenance order in a divorce case. A party to a divorce must file a motion to obtain post-divorce maintenance while the marriage dissolution case is ongoing. A person cannot go back and seek a maintenance order once a divorce case has concluded.

Once a post-divorce maintenance order is issued by a court, it cannot be changed. It is a truly final order that establishes what is to be paid in the way of maintenance into the future.

Retain a Skilled, Experienced bronx Maintenance Attorney

Less than forty years ago, alimony was more widely awarded in divorce cases. With the societal changes that have occurred over the course of the past generation, alimony or maintenance is not presumed to be awarded in a divorce case. For this reason, among others, retaining a skilled and experienced bronx maintenance lawyer is important if a person desires to obtain this type of financial support through a divorce case.

The first step in hiring a capable bronx maintenance lawyer is scheduling an initial consultation. Through an initial consultation, a prospective client is able to obtain more information about divorce and maintenance laws in New York. A person interesting in obtaining a divorce, and maintenance, is also able to obtain answers to important questions. As a general rule, no fee is charged for an initial consultation with a bronx maintenance lawyer.