Legal Specs

Alimony after Marriage

13 Aug 2008

In the US divorce proceedings, Alimony (also known as 'maintenance' or 'spousal support') is still being granted in many cases, especially in longer term marriages.
Alimony is also likely in cases where a spouse has remedial needs that must be met in order for the spouse to become fully employable, for example that one spouse gave up career opportunities or development in order to devote themselves to the family.
In family law, Alimony, maintenance or spousal support is an obligation established by law in many countries that is based on the premise that both spouses have an absolute obligation to support each other during the marriage unless they are legally separated. Learn more of this with the North Carolina family lawyer.
Some of the possible factors that bear on the amount and duration of the support are: the length of the marriage, time separated while still married, age of the parties at the time of the divorce, relative income of the parties, future financial prospects of the parties, health of the parties, and fault in marital breakdown.
A divorce or separation instrument is defined as a decree of divorce or separate maintenance or a written instrument incident to such a decree, a written separation agreement, or a decree requiring a spouse to make payments for the support or maintenance of the other spouse. Visit the North Carolina family lawyer to know more about this.
Child support must be included in the payer's gross income and can be excluded from the recipient's gross income. Child support payments are payments that are allocated to the support of the minor children of the pair.
If the amount of the alimony payments would be reduced in the event of the age, death, or marriage of the child, this contingent amount would be considered child support. See what the North Carolina family lawyer has to offer about this.
Alimony is treated very differently from child support in the United States with respect to taxation. Alimony is treated as income to the receiving spouse, and deducted from the income of the paying spouse. Child support is not a payment that affects U.S. taxes as it is viewed as a payment that a parent is making for the support of their own offspring.
In many jurisdictions, people whose child support obligations go into arrears can have licenses seized; in a few states they can even be imprisoned. Someone trying to recover back alimony can sometimes only use the collection procedures that are available to all other creditors. For more information about alimony.