If you are thinking about filing for divorce or know that your spouse will be filing soon, you are likely thinking about the financial aspects of the divorce and whether spousal maintenance will come into play in your divorce case. In particular, when one of the spouses was the primary earner during the marriage, the other spouse likely is concerned about whether he or she will be eligible to receive spousal support. We want to say more about how the court determines whether one spouse is entitled to receive spousal maintenance payments from the other spouse as part of a divorce proceeding.
Are you entitled to receive spousal support? The answer to that question depends upon a few different factors. Under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA), a spouse can seek spousal maintenance in any of the following situations connected to separation, divorce, and other ways of dissolving a legal relationship:
Assuming that you are seeking a legal separation, a divorce, a declaration for invalidity of marriage (i.e., an annulment), or a dissolution of your civil union, you may be eligible to seek spousal maintenance. The next step is for the court to determine whether spousal maintenance is appropriate.
Once you know that you may be eligible to have the court award maintenance based on the type of family law proceeding, the next step involves the court deciding whether a maintenance award is appropriate. In making a finding about whether spousal maintenance is appropriate, the court does not consider marital misconduct. Rather, it can consider all relevant factors, which may include some of the following, according to the statute:
If the court determines that maintenance is appropriate, it can order for it to be paid either from the income or property of the payor spouse (the spouse making the maintenance payments to the other spouse).
If you have questions about seeking alimony or whether you are entitled to receive support, a Chicago spousal maintenance lawyer can help. Contact Arami Law today to learn more