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Maintenance
Families, Children & Divorce Topics
This content was last updated on 8/20/2024
- What is spousal maintenance?
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Spousal maintenance (also called maintenance or alimony) is money paid by, or to, your spouse for financial support after a divorce.
- Can I get maintenance?
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A judge can grant maintenance if they find that you don’t have enough property to meet your needs and
- you can’t support yourself through a job; or
- you have a child that needs you to stay at home to care for them because of a condition or other circumstance. In this case, working outside the home is not an option because of the situation.
- How much maintenance can the judge order and for how long?
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After looking at your case, the judge can decide to award you maintenance and also decides how much you should get and for how long.
The judge will look at these things to make decisions about maintenance:
- Your financial resources, including any property you got in the divorce
- If there is child support being paid
- The time and cost for you to get training and education to find a job
- Your standard of living during your marriage
- How long you and your spouse were married
- Your age
- Your physical and emotional condition
- Your spouse’s financial resources and their ability to meet their own needs while supporting you
- How does marital misconduct (bad behavior) affect maintenance?
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For the person getting the maintenance, marital misconduct does not affect the right to get it, but it can affect the amount of money they get. For the person paying the maintenance, marital misconduct does not affect the maintenance award.
