Wondering if you qualify for spousal maintenance? Worried that you may have to pay it? Contact our office today for a free legal consultation! We can help you during this life change.

Entire bookshelves could be written about spousal maintenance!

In divorces, the request for payment of spousal maintenance by one side will trigger paralyzing fear for the other side and potential big legal bills for everyone. Spousal maintenance is payment of future income or earnings by one spouse to the other spouse. It can be temporary or permanent; monthly payments or one lump sum; and really expensive or very little.

For the spouse paying the maintenance bill, it seems unfair because it’s like the marriage never ended. Reliving the emotional rollercoaster with each check can be absolutely draining. For the receiver, it can be the only lifeline to staying alive or rehabilitating into the job market. The central idea is to have some kind of balance and consistency between the lifestyles of pre- and post-divorce, especially if a receiving spouse has to re-train or find a job. (Common with stay-at-home parents)

In recent days, statutory and case law generally require district court judges to award permanent spousal maintenance in long-term marriages where there is a question whether the spouse seeking spousal maintenance can be self-supporting. Issues of good faith and rehabilitation have begun to re-emerge and the higher courts reviewing the spousal maintenance issues have wrestled with the tension between recognizing the contributions of spouses and requiring those spouses to share in the economic consequences of divorce.

Now, the courts have begun shifting the focus back to the spouse receiving maintenance when the Minnesota legislature passed a law that permits spousal maintenance awards to be modified on the basis of cohabitation. This makes sense, as a spouse that is living with a partner presumably has less household expenses because they are sharing bills and presumably taking in two incomes.

The legislature included four factors that courts must consider:

1) would the party receiving maintenance marry the live-in partner but for the award of maintenance;

2) what kind of economic benefit is that party receiving because of the co-habitation (i.e., bills split, no house payment, or rental income, etc.);

3) how long the parties have been living together and the likely continuance of that living arrangement; and

4) what economic impact would occur if the co-habitation ended?

Once it has been determined that maintenance will be awarded, the court must consider all relevant factors, including:

(1) the financial resources of the spouse seeking maintenance, and his or her ability to meet his or her needs independently;

(2) the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the spouse seeking maintenance to find appropriate employment and the probability, given the spouse’s age and skills, of completing education or training and becoming fully self-supporting;

(3) the standard of living established during the marriage;

(4) the length of marriage, and in the case of a homemaker, the length of absence from employment and the extent to which any education, skills, or experience have become outmoded and earning capacity has become permanently diminished;

(5) the loss of earnings and other employment opportunities foregone by the spouse seeking spousal maintenance;

(6) the age and physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance;

(7) the ability of the spouse from whom maintenance is sought to meet his or her own needs while meeting those of the spouse seeking maintenance; and

(8) the contribution of each party in the acquisition of marital property, as well as the contribution of the spouse as a homemaker.

The facts of each case are different, and it is the judge’s job to apply the law to the facts of each case. Unlike child support, there are no guidelines for determining spousal maintenance and District Court Judges have wide discretion to award spousal maintenance. The court’s decision to award spousal maintenance is permissive, meaning the Court may grant maintenance for either spouse. The amount and duration of spousal maintenance can vary widely dependent upon the region, a spouse’s special needs, the cost of living, and the particular judge hearing the case. This makes it very difficult to predict the outcome in any case, but if there is a long marriage and a substantial difference in the incomes of the parties, maintenance is a likely outcome.

However, each of these questions is very fact-based and requires a close analysis of the facts, budgets, future plans, and even co-habitation. In the end, there is no clear method of determining what a spousal maintenance award will be, so it is gamble to push this to a court decision. Like all family law issues, it is generally better to work toward a compromise that, although imperfect, is fair and equitable under the circumstances.

Wondering if you qualify for spousal maintenance? Worried that you may have to pay it? Contact our office today for a free legal consultation! We can help you during this life change.

--Jim Cope of Cope and Peterson co-authored this article that appeared in the Hometown Focus in March 2011.

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