Alimony/Property Division
Types of Alimony
Rehabilitative alimony - designed to be temporary and rehabilitative to the economically disadvantaged spouse to make up economic loss ground during the marriage. If temporary alimony cannot bring about rehabilitation, the court can order alimony a long term or indefinite basis.
Alimony in solido - a fixed amount without conditions. It is not modifiable even upon the showing of a change in circumstances including remarriage or increased fortune of recipient spouse.
Alimony in futuro (permanent alimony or periodic alimony) - continues indefinitely and is subject to modification upon a showing of significant material change in circumstance.
The Court's preference is for rehabilitative alimony. However, before considering alimony the court must first find an equitable division of marital property. The distribution of marital property is one of the factors required to be considered by the court in awarding spousal support.
Alimony is available to both men and women.
Property Division
If you and your spouse cannot agree to the division of your property the court will divide it for you. In order to divide your property, you should divide it into categories of separate and marital property.
Separate property includes all property you owned before the marriage as well as any property acquired by a spouse at any time by gift, bequest, or devise during the marriage. Separate property also includes:
- Income from and appreciation of property owned by a spouse before marriage except when characterized as marital property;
- Pain and suffering awards, victim of crime compensation awards, future medical expenses and future lost wages; and
- Property acquired by a spouse after an order of legal separation where the court has made a final disposition of property.
Marital property includes all property acquired during the marriage which is not separate property. Marital property includes:
- Income from any separate property which increases in value during the marriage if each party substantially contributed to its preservation and appreciation.
- Personal injury, workers' compensation, social security disability actions for lost wages during the marriage, reimbursement of medical bills, paid with marital funds. It does not include pain and suffering awards.
Factors the Court Considers when Dividing Marital Property
- The duration of the marriage;
- The age, physical and mental health, vocational skills, employability, earning capacity, estate, financial liabilities and financial needs of each of the parties;
- The tangible or intangible contribution by one party to the education, training or increased earning power of the other party;
- The relative ability of each party for future acquisitions of capital assets and income;
- The contribution of each party to the acquisition, preservation, appreciation, depreciation or dissipation of the marital or separate property, including the contribution of a party to the marriage as a homemaker, wage earner or parent, with the contribution of a party as homemaker or wage earner to be given the same weight if each party has fulfilled their role;
- The value of the separate property of each party;
- The estate of each party at the time of the marriage;
- The economic circumstance of each party at the time the division of property is to become effective;
- The tax consequences to each party, costs associated with the reasonably foreseeable sale of the asset, and other reasonably foreseeable expenses associated with the asset;
- The amount of Social Security benefits available to each spouse; and
- Such other factors as are necessary to consider the equities between the parties.
Do not hide assets. If you do and the assets are found, the judge will have trouble believing anything you say.
Division of Marital Debts
Marital debts are those debts incurred during the marriage for the joint benefit of the parties or those that can be traced to the acquisition of marital property. Only marital debts are divided.
When considering the division of marital debt, the court considers the following factors:
- Which party incurred the debt and the reason for the debt;
- Which party benefitted from the debt; and
- Which party is better able to assume the debt.