Thank you for joining me. My name is LaSheena Williams, and I am a Maryland family law attorney. My firm helps our clients take control of out-of-control domestic situations. Today, we will be discussing seeking a rehabilitative alimony award.
What are Rehabilitative Alimony Awards?
Rehabilitative Alimony Awards is an award by the court to a party who may not necessarily have been the primary bread winner and they may need financial support from their future former spouse to maintain their living situation so that they can get to a point where they can sustain themselves financially.
When can you request rehabilitative alimony awards?
You can request rehabilitative alimony initially in your initial complaint for an absolute divorce. You can request it in an answer to the complaint from your opposing party’s complaint for divorce and you can also request it in a counter complaint. You can get a court order for rehabilitative alimony at a Pendente Lite support hearing, at a limited divorce hearing, or even at a merit hearing at the end of your case.
What do you need to show to get them?
In seeking a rehabilitative alimony award the stage of the case is crucial because what you need to prove at different stages will impact your ability to get a rehabilitative alimony award. For example, if you are seeking rehabilitative alimony and you’re at a Pendente Lite hearing the factors the court must consider when awarding alimony at that hearing are very, very simple. You must show that you have a need for alimony and that your spouse can pay it. Regardless of almost any other circumstances those are the only two factors that really matter when seeking temporary alimony at a Pendente Lite hearing. However, there are over a dozen different factors when seeking rehabilitative alimony at your divorce merits hearing. There is different things to consider, age, health, education, employability, all sorts of factors that must be considered when seeking alimony at the Merit status. And even if you get Pendente Lite alimony based on the two factors that I’ve stated before you might not necessarily get it at the final merits hearing. It really is stage based and it’s important that you understand that and that you speak with your attorney so that you can understand what your goals throughout your case are in seeking this type of award.
If you have any questions about alimony or any other domestic related matters, contact the Law Office of LaSheena M. Williams at (301) 778 – 9950 or leave an online request for a consultation.
