The area of family law governs all types of interactions within the family. Unfortunately, divorce is a large part of family law. There are a variety of issues that may accompany a divorce in addition to just the split of the husband and wife. One of these issues is alimony. Alimony, which is referred to as maintenance or spousal support in many jurisdictions, is a legal obligation for one ex-spouse to provide financial support to the other ex-spouse after a divorce. Historically, alimony was awarded as a result of the husband’s duty to provide for his wife and family, and after a divorce, a woman might not have any other way of providing for herself. This is still one of the reasons for spousal support, and may be given so that a spouse can continue his or her way of life after the divorce.The Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act (UMDA) is a set of guidelines created by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law in an attempt to make marriage and divorce laws more uniform throughout the United States. The UMDA has been adopted as the law in many states. Under the UMDA, a court may grant maintenance if the spouse seeking maintenance lacks sufficient property to provide for his or her reasonable needs, cannot support him or herself through employment, or is the custodian of a child whose condition makes it appropriate that the custodian not be required to seek employment.
Also, under the UMDA, the court will grant maintenance for periods of time and in the amount the court deems just. The court will not consider marital misconduct when determining what maintenance is appropriate. In determining what period and amount of maintenance is proper, the court will consider a variety of factors, including the financial resources of the party seeking maintenance, child support, the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party to seek employment, the standard of living during the marriage, the duration of the marriage, the age and the physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance, and the ability of the supporting spouse to meet his own needs while also meeting the needs of the spouse seeking maintenance.
The reasonable needs of the spouse seeking support is one of the main factors that courts focus on when determining the duration and amount of maintenance. Reasonable needs are not to be determined in relation to subsistence living, but rather should be compared to the standard of living established during the marriage. Courts may also consider the financial contributions made by one spouse that allowed the other spouse to enhance his or her future earning capacity. This might include contributions and sacrifices made by one spouse while another spouse earned an advanced education.
The UMDA also sets guidelines that have been adopted by many states for modification of alimony. Under the UMDA, modification of maintenance can only be made after a showing of changed circumstances so substantial that the terms of the maintenance are made unconscionable, or extremely unreasonable. Also, the obligation to pay maintenance is terminated upon the death of either party or if the party receiving maintenance remarries.
