You may have given up your career to care for your family shortly after marriage or agreed to play homemaker while your spouse brings home the bacon. Since you are financially dependent on your spouse, you may be entitled to spousal support, otherwise referred to as alimony.
Alimony is meant to limit or mitigate the impact of a divorce on a spouse’s financial security by providing them with a means to meet their daily expenses like they were accustomed to during the marriage.
It is often a contentious issue in many a divorce, particularly regarding the amount of spousal support to which a spouse is entitled. Here is what you need to know.
It all depends on the unique circumstances of your case
No law in Connecticut specifies the amount of alimony that should apply in a divorce. It all comes down to individual cases. Unless you have a legally binding agreement like a prenup, telling the exact amount of spousal support you should expect is almost impossible.
Some of the factors that may come into play include:
- The duration of the marriage
- The reasons for the divorce
- The age and health of each spouse
- The financial needs of the spouses
- The education, vocational skills, earning capacity and employability of the spouses
These and other particular aspects of your divorce will determine the amount and duration of alimony.
The amount can be revised upwards or downwards
Alimony payments may be compulsory, but they are not cast in stone. The court may modify the amount in line with substantial changes since a judge issued the spousal support orders. A job loss or a change of business fortunes are some of the reasons a court may modify its earlier orders.
Learning more about how spousal support works and your legal rights as the paying or receiving spouse is crucial to protecting your financial interests in a divorce.
