What Is Alimony?
Alimony, also known as spousal support, is an obligation for one spouse to pay to supplement the income of another spouse.
Temporary Alimony in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, Maryland
There are three different types of alimony in Maryland. The first type is temporary alimony. Temporary alimony is the temporary financial support paid from one spouse to a lesser earning spouse. There are several key considerations you should keep in mind regarding temporary alimony. Typically, with temporary alimony, the court has really two major considerations: Does one spouse require temporary support and does the other spouse have the ability to pay additional support above and beyond their expenses. Those are the two main issues and because those are the two main issues it’s very key to flesh out the requirements or the need for temporary alimony for one spouse and the extra or additional funds available from another spouse.
Rehabilitative Alimony in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, Maryland
Rehabilitative alimony is one of the more common types of alimony if an alimony award is likely to occur. With rehabilitative alimony, the goal of the court is to provide a lesser earning spouse additional support until they are able to provide themselves with sufficient support to maintain their living situation. This may mean that a higher earning spouse provides financial support for a spouse so that that spouse can complete school or trade program or any other way of gaining additional income until that person is able to support and sustain their monthly expenses on their own.
Permanent Alimony
Permanent alimony is awarded but it’s one of the more rare forms of alimony. Permanent alimony is the obligation from a higher earning spouse to pay a certain amount of financial support to their lower earning spouse for the rest of that spouse’s life. This may be until that spouse remarries or until that spouse’s death. This type of alimony is very rarely awarded because Maryland courts believe that spouses or people have an ongoing duty to support themselves and they try to make sure that that person is in a position to actually support themselves and that their former spouse isn’t obliged to provide support for the rest of their life without a good reason. For example, permanent alimony might be awarded if your lesser earning spouse has a debilitating illness or disease that makes it impossible for them to work and there’s no way for them to actually earn an income moving forward following your divorce.
Taxes in Alimony
There are a couple of considerations you should keep in mind when dealing with alimony. One of the major considerations you should keep in mind are the new tax implications regarding an alimony award. Previously, if you had an alimony award in your case, the payments of alimony would be deducted from your overall gross income and if you were receiving the alimony the alimony award would be considered would be an addition to your income. Now, if you’re paying alimony, it’s no longer deducted from your gross income and if you are actually receiving alimony payments, that no longer counts towards your actual income.
Contact An Experienced Maryland Divorce Attorney Today For Your Alimony Case In Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, Maryland
If someone in your divorce case is seeking alimony and you have questions about what to do to increase the likelihood of an alimony award or decrease the likelihood of an alimony award or you have other questions about your divorce or other domestic related matters, please feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel for future updates and contact us at (301) 778-9950 today.
