Barrington Alimony or Spousal Support Attorney

Throughout the course of a marriage, spouses become accustomed to a certain standard of living. How will divorce affect that? Will you be able to receive temporary or long-term support to help you maintain your lifestyle after marriage? Our highly accomplished, experienced Illinois family law attorneys can answer your spousal support and maintenance questions.

Generally, judges in Illinois may order spousal support, or maintenance during the divorce process and for some time after a divorce is finalized.

The parties may agree to alimony as part of a prenuptial agreement or a divorce settlement. A judge will consider several factors when deciding whether to award spousal support during and after a divorce.

We are a Barrington alimony lawyer you can trust. Give us a call today to learn more about how we can help with your family law issues – with a free initial consultation. We can answer your questions about visitation rights, spousal support, child custody, and every family law matter you need to clarify.

Family lawyers know child custody situations in Barrington, IL, can have a lot of legal processes involved, and you’ll need legal assistance to get through them. We do our best to ensure our clients get the most skilled legal services possible in the IL area.

Generally, judges in Illinois may order spousal support or maintenance during the divorce process and for a period of time after a divorce is finalized. The parties may agree to alimony as part of a prenuptial agreement or as part of a divorce settlement. A judge will consider a number of factors when deciding whether to award spousal support during and after a divorce.

Use Crystal Lake, Arlington Heights, and Barrington Spousal Maintenance Attorneys to Maneuver Your Legal Issues

At Manassa Law P.C., we can help you assess whether your situation warrants spousal support and, if so, the amount and duration thereof. To speak to one of our Palatine spousal support attorneys in a free consultation, call us at 866-661-9235.

Locations

To better serve our clients, we have multiple convenient office locations – Barrington and Crystal Lake – representing clients in Cook, McHenry, Lake, Kane, and DuPage Counties in such towns as Arlington Heights, Lakewood, and Palatine.

Temporary vs. Long-Term Spousal Support

There are two types of alimony in Illinois:

Temporary maintenance during the divorce and long-term spousal support. Barrington family law attorneys explain the differences and what they mean to you in an easy-to-understand way.

The question of whether alimony is appropriate is based on one spouse’s need for financial support as well as the other spouse’s ability to pay.

During The Divorce Process

A dependent spouse may qualify to receive temporary spousal support or maintenance to pay bills and maintain a reasonable standard of living.

This support could remain in effect permanently—becoming long-term spousal support—after the divorce, depending on several factors, primarily the need of the dependent spouse and the income of the supporting spouse.

There are three types of long-term spousal support:

Terminable or fixed-term maintenance

Ends on a date set by the court. After this date, the dependent spouse is no longer eligible for spousal support.

Indefinite maintenance

Lasts until the award is modified or terminated because of a substantial change in circumstances.

Reviewable maintenance

Awarded for a specific term, which can be revisited at a later date. During a review, a court may renew, modify, or even cancel the alimony award.

Our family law attorneys can help you assess your situation and determine which type of spousal support you can expect.

Calculating Spousal Support in Illinois

Alimony is not mandatory in Illinois. Instead, the question of whether maintenance is appropriate is based on the spouses’ circumstances. A court will consider a variety of relevant factors, including:

Alimony is not mandatory in Illinois.

Instead, the question of whether maintenance is appropriate is based on the spouses’ circumstances. A court will consider a variety of relevant factors, including:

the parties’ incomes;
the needs of each party;
the realistic present and future earning capacity of each party;
any impairment of the present and future earning capacity of the party seeking; maintenance due to devoting time to domestic duties or having given up or delayed education, training, employment, or career opportunities due to the marriage;
any impairment of the realistic present or future earning capacity of the party who would be paying maintenance;
the time necessary to enable the party seeking maintenance to acquire appropriate education, training, and employment, and whether they can support themselves through appropriate employment;
the effect of parental responsibilities and their effect on a party’s ability to seek or maintain employment;
the standard of living during the marriage;
the duration of the marriage;
the age, health, station, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, liabilities, and the needs of each of the parties;

For example, consider a situation where one spouse stayed home to take care of the kids. One of their children has significant disabilities and will not be able to live independently even as an adult.

The parties filed for divorce in their late 50s. In this case, because the stay-at-home spouse has been out of the workforce for more than 30 years and must continue to provide care for their adult child, they may be entitled to alimony.

If a judge decides that maintenance is appropriate, then they will decide the appropriate amount. In Illinois, spousal support is either ordered as part of alimony guidelines or outside of the guidelines.

This is referred to as either guideline or non-guideline maintenance.

If the gross annual income is less than $500,000, and the person paying support does not have to pay child support or alimony from another relationship, then the guideline maintenance will be 33.3% of their net annual income, minus 25% of the receiving spouse’s net annual income. Guideline maintenance cannot be for more than 40% of the combined net income of both spouses.

Once the guideline maintenance amount is calculated, the length of support is calculated based on the length of the marriage. If the marriage lasted for 20 or more years, then maintenance can be for a period equal to the length of the marriage or for a longer term.

Courts can deviate from the alimony guidelines if the factors that they analyzed in deciding to award maintenance. In doing so, the judge must provide a written explanation of the amount and duration of maintenance under the guidelines and explain why they are departing from the guidelines.

For all maintenance decisions, judges must issue written findings. This order must include a discussion of each factor that they considered in deciding to award or deny maintenance. If alimony is awarded, this decision must state whether the support is fixed-term, indefinite, or reviewable.

Compensation Through Property Division

Courts prefer to sever ties between spouses as much as possible, allowing them to move forward after the divorce.

There may be situations where spousal support is still necessary. You may petition the court for temporary maintenance and long-term spousal support in those cases. For some individuals, this may be the best way to maintain financial stability during and after a divorce.

Contact Manassa Law P.C., | Answers to Your Illinois Alimony Questions

Even when the divorce is amicable, it can be challenging and confusing, particularly when you are unsure of your rights. Depending on your situation, you may be entitled to—or required to pay—alimony under Illinois law.

At Manassa Law, we have significant experience handling family law matters, including divorce, property division, and spousal support. We work with our clients to help them understand their rights and options regarding alimony.

To learn more about your rights and responsibilities regarding spousal support and maintenance, for a free consultation with an experienced, accomplished lawyer.