What is alimony? Alimony is a legal obligation for a person to provide financial support to his or her spouse during the process of separation or divorce. Typically, the former husband would always provide financial help to his former wife in the case of a divorce or separation. However, since the 1970s, there are many women that also provide for their former husbands. Why is this information important to you? For starters, if you are going through a divorce and have children, you may run into some financial trouble without your spouse. Nevertheless, with alimony, your child will be secure with income from you and your former spouse. Therefore, the divorce will only affect you and your former spouse, not your child.
Furthermore, alimony is not the same as child support. Your attorney can explain to you how child support is money given to the custodial parent for purposes such as food, health, education and other maintenance. Although alimony is very similar to child support, it is a bit different. Alimony is when one spouse has given up earning potential in order to raise their children. As a result, the judge may grant alimony, which is treated as a taxable income. The receiving spouse is typically the one who gets taxed, and the paying spouse typically has the alimony money deducted from their gross pay.
There are many factors that are considered by the judge when granting alimony, including how long the couple has been married, how much each spouse is capable of making, the age of each spouse, the health of each spouse, and much more. Each state has different laws regarding alimony; however, most states review the length of the marriage as a major factor.
Moreover, as you can see, divorce is an extremely difficult process to understand. A divorce attorney always knows best in regards to learning these laws. Divorce is already painful to go through, but the process can be quicker and more comprehensible with a trusted attorney at your side.
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