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N/aAre you currently going through a divorce in Dutchess County and have questions about alimony? Did you finalize your divorce but recently experienced a change in circumstances such that you are seeking to modify an alimony order? Regardless of your situation, an experienced Dutchess alimony lawyer can help with your case.
At The Colwell Law Group, LLC, we have years of experience assisting clients with a wide variety of divorce needs, including alimony orders and modifications.
Alimony, which is also known as spousal maintenance or spousal support, is a financial payment made from one spouse to the other after a divorce. There are two different types of spousal maintenance: post-divorce maintenance, and temporary maintenance. The latter is often awarded in a divorce proceeding before the divorce is finalized. This type of temporary support ends when a post-divorce maintenance order is entered.
Why is alimony awarded at all? As a fact sheet from the New York City Bar explains, spousal maintenance is designed to help the spouse who receives the support to become financially independent.
Through a recent change in New York law, there are new guidelines for determining the amount and duration of spousal maintenance that a person receives through a divorce proceeding. The revised guidelines affected both temporary and post-divorce maintenance awards. In both situations, there is a formula for determining an appropriate payment given the payor’s income and other financial obligations. Under DRL 236B(5-a)(a), either party can make an application for temporary maintenance when a divorce proceeding is ongoing. Post-divorce alimony orders are a bit more complicated.
In determining the equitable amount and duration of a post-divorce maintenance award, the court typically can consider numerous factors, including but not limited to the following:
As we noted above, the new guidelines provide the court with a basic formula for determining duration of the support. In brief, the court multiplies the length of the marriage by a percentage to determine the duration of support. These are the general guidelines:
Regardless of the other terms of an alimony award, the following are also ways in which maintenance payments can come to an end:
If you have questions or concerns about alimony, a spousal maintenance lawyer in Dutchess County can help. Contact The Colwell Law Group, LLC for more information.
Seek the help of our experienced legal team today to go over your case and discuss how we can help
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