Spouses and Spousal Support: A Never Ending Love-Hate Relationship

Couple relationships do not always finish in the best of terms.  Regularly there are more occasions in which parties involved –or at least one of them- are not comfortable with the terms set after the rupture.  When it comes to specifically ending a marriage, the situation tends to get tricky.  That is the case of finishing a marriage after many years of existence.  This means a complete re-adjustment of the parties’ lives whom now must learn to live without each other.  Divorce, leads to an uncountable number of regularities and responsibilities which must be met.  It is curious that after a divorce, a person’s day to day is completely different comparing it to when married.  All of these changes come to reason because of the revolution that occurs after the official rupture.  Nevertheless, not everything is lost between both parties after a divorce.  In case that there are children, one party may have to pay child support.  But in another scenario, one party may be obliged to pay spousal support.

Spousal support also known as alimony is the compensation from one ex-spouse to the other for a period of time or indefinitely.  Several decades ago, spousal support was only granted to women.  In addition to this, at first it was only given to widows.  However, with the passing of years, this has changed.  Nowadays, the ex-wife or the ex-husband have the right to receive spousal support.  This is very positive in the sense that there is no longer any gender discrimination when it comes to this, so benefits can be given to any parties.

The requirements needed to stablish which of the parties will receive alimony are not secret or strict.  Generally, they are based on a series of aspects like, duration of the marriage, economical status during and after marriage and the capacity to earn money after marriage.  However, the system in place to determine the definition of the amount is not very precise.  This is set by the jury itself without the realization of any evident complicated calculations.  In fact, on several occasions, the jury come to a decision without even consulting all the facts and only basing it on experience.  Consequently, in many occasions, spousal support lack objectiveness and certainty.

Also, even though the separation was not traumatic, it is always intelligent to consult with a spousal support lawyer which are very specialized professional on this specific type of cases.  Generally, the mistakes committed in court without the assistance of a professional are precisely the results of a lack of law knowledge that distinguished this family law cases.  The terminology as well as the loopholes are traps that are impossible to visualize and comprehend by a non-law expert.  Besides, if one of the spouses hires a lawyer, it is recommendable that the other does the same to have parity.

It is true that a great number of spouses resort to spousal support to take advantage of the existing situation.  It is also veridical to add that alimony has been a necessary tool in the lives of many spouses to move forward.  Through pension, parties are able to withstand the loss of the other spouse.  After sharing many years together, it is only fair that things keep on being shared to some extent.  Spousal support remains, on today’s society, a very important subject to discuss and improve.

Steffy Alen

Steffy Alen