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Alimony could be an important part of your life after divorce or legal separation. In states where alimony is no longer recognized, a more commonly used term is spousal support or maintenance. In a nutshell, it's monetary support that is granted on a case to case basis when one spouse has the means and the other spouse has the need.
For some women who have left their careers in order to stay at home with the children, this could be a big deal. It's quite difficult to get back into the workforce when you're used to staying at home and minding the children. The prospect of getting divorced could seem intimidating when you don't know how you will survive afterwards. It would probably help you deal with the fear of the unknown if you can understand what your options are in terms of spousal support.
Here are free divorce advice for women on the different types of alimony and how it applies to certain situations:
Temporary Spousal Support/Maintenance
As the name implies, this kind of spousal support is given only for a temporary period of time. This is given by the primary breadwinner to the other spouse who is unemployed or who has a lower income. These payments are designed to ensure that both spouses have enough money to pay for outstanding debts. Unfortunately, temporary spousal support may not be enough to cover everything, which means that you'll need to look for other sources of supplemental income. It's best to use this temporary financial relief to get back on your feet as fast as you can.
Rehabilitative Maintenance and Limited-term Spousal Support
These two types of support is similar to temporary spousal support. It's usually paid by one spouse to the other over a certain period of time until the other spouse becomes self-supporting, finds a job or finishes his/her studies. It's designed to sustain the living expenses of a spouse over a "rehabilitative" time wherein he or she can get back on his/her feet. This type of support is often rewarded to people who left their careers to raise their family.
Long Term Spousal Support
Unlike the first two kinds of spousal support, long term support is paid on a more lengthy, oftentimes indefinite period of time. This type of support is ordered from the breadwinner to the spouse who is either an elderly or suffers from a disability. It's something that's not often granted, but is granted on a case to case basis. It's determined by a lot of factors including the earning capacity of both parties, income, state of the spouse's health, the length of the marriage, among other things.
Lump Sum
Also called buy-outs, these may be paid depending on whether the accepting spouse agrees to it or not. This type of payment may be quite an attractive alternative to other types of spousal support payments because it is given after the divorce in one big sum, instead of being given over a period of time. There's no telling when the financial situation of the paying spouse may change. Getting a lump sum now allows the receiving spouse to get money securely as well as gives her more flexibility about what she can do with the lump sum, such as start a business.
Knowing your options can help you make better decisions in the future. These helpful divorce advice can put you in the right track so that you can start your new life with as little fear of the unknown as possible.
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