How does the court determine how long maintenance will be paid for?
Again, the Court looks at the standard of living of the marriage, the length of the marriage, health, ages, education, training, job experience and the income histories of the past three years of both spouses, to determine earning ability. In a marriage that lasted for 30 years, the spouse in need stayed home, has no education or job experience to speak of and is not in great health, lifetime maintenance can be expected. In a marriage that lasted 8 years, the spouse in need has a college degree and has been working earning $35,000.00 or greater, probably no maintenance at all. In a fifteen year marriage and the youngest child is 12, and the spouse in need has prior work experience and/or college degree, based on incomes of the parties, maybe as much as $1,000.00 per month for up to five years, maybe only $50.00 per week for three years. The concept is to fashion an award to allow the party in need to become self-supporting.
Related Questions
- How do you determine if a project falls under regular maintenance that would come from the operating budget and a project that would be paid for by capital funds?
- What criteria does the court use to determine whether to make a maintenance award?
- How does the court determine how long maintenance will be paid for?
