Spousal SupportOur legal team has experience litigating and negotiating complex spousal support issues.

Simply being in a relationship does not entitle a spouse to support. In determining if a spouse is entitled to support courts consider the following objectives.

• To recognize any economic advantages or disadvantages to the spouses arising from the relationship between the spouses or the breakdown of that relationship;
• To apportion between the spouses any financial consequences arising from the care of their child, beyond the duty to provide support for the child;
• To relieve any economic hardship of the spouses arising from the breakdown of the relationship between the spouses;
• As far as practicable, to promote the economic self-sufficiency of each spouse within a reasonable period of time.

For spousal support without children, if entitled, the recipient will generally receive 1.5 to 2% the difference in incomes for each year they are together. For example:

• Jane has an annual income of $100,000. Joe has an annual income of $20,000. They have been married for 10 years and have no children. Assuming Joe is entitled to support, he would receive $12,000 to $16,000 per year or 15% to 20% of $80,000 per year.

The amount of spousal support becomes more complex when children are involved. Instead of relying on the length of the relationship the court will look to distribute the net disposable income, being the income of both parents after taxes, benefits, and child support. How it is calculated exactly depends on the parenting arrangements.

For spousal support without children, if entitled, the recipient will generally receive support for 6 to 12 months for each year they are together.

• For Example Joe and Jane have been married for 10 years and have no children. Assuming Joe is entitled to support, he would receive support for 5 to 10 years.

The length of spousal support becomes more complex when children are involved. When first deciding these matters the court often sets review dates instead of dates on which spousal support stops. Those dates are usually when the children enter or graduate from school.

1. You can seek an order imputing income. See blog post imputing income.