When couples get divorced, there are certain factors that need to be decided upon. During the marriage, the couple may have had a specific arrangement to fit their lifestyle and their family. However, a divorce affects all this. If their arrangement included one parent working to bring in an income and the other parent taking care of the children, the at-home parent may not be able to support themselves after the marriage is over. This can cause a divorce to be even more devastating to their life. Alimony, also known as spousal support, can help dependent parties to support themselves after their divorce is finalized. During these situations, it can be difficult to decide the amount of spousal support that is paid to the dependent party. The court is then involved to make these decisions to ensure that the dependent party can sufficiently support themselves.
How is spousal support arranged?
In order to decide spousal support, a judge will consider multiple factors regarding each party’s life to make a fair and just judgment. Their arrangement during marriage can be considered to determine the alimony payments. There are a few different options for categorizing spousal support in New Jersey. When these payments are being made, there are certain factors that may influence them. Outside factors may cause reason to modify or stop the payments. These factors can include cohabitation, remarriage of the dependent spouse, the dependent spouse becoming financially independent or the payor spouse becoming unemployed or disabled.
Open Durational Alimony
Although this was previously named to be a permanent alimony arrangement, it is no longer called that due to the fact that it may not be permanent. There is no specific time frame for when these payments should stop being made. This form of payment is for married couples who have been together for longer periods of time. They should have had a marriage that lasted over 20 years to qualify for this type of alimony. For this category, modifications can be made during the open durational alimony to adjust the payment amounts or when they are due.
Limited Duration Alimony
This type of alimony payment method is for married couples who were together for less than 20 years. Under New Jersey law, payments are not allowed to be made longer than the duration of the marriage.
Rehabilitative Alimony
For this type of payment, it is designed to support dependent parties who have delayed their career goals. The purpose of doing this was to support their spouse’s success during marriage and for the benefit of the family. This form of payment requires funds to pay for schooling or vocational training so that the dependent party has the opportunity to increase their earning capacity.
Reimbursement Alimony
This is a structure of support that includes payments to reimburse a spouse for financially supporting the family during marriage. This could have been due to their spouse’s pursuit of an education or some kind of vocational training.
Ross and Calandrillo, LLC is a full-service divorce, family, and real estate law firm located in Mountainside, New Jersey. For strong legal representation in all of your divorce or family law matters, contact Ross and Calandrillo, LLC to schedule a consultation.
