The term alimony may seem foreign to some people, but it is actually just another term for spousal support. It is the financial support that the spouse with a higher income pays to the spouse with a lower income. During a marriage, both parties are obliged to support each other. When a marriage ends and the support is continued, this is called alimony.
Alimony, just so you know, has been around longer than you probably think. In fact, it goes back thousands of years ago, starting in ancient Mesopotamia. Back then, men who wanted to divorce their wives were required to pay cash to the wife's family, mainly to maintain peace and order. Since then, alimony has been present in the world of family law.
The amount of alimony is ordered by a judge and is affected by quite a number of factors. These differ from state to state, so the factors that affect alimony in California may not be the ones that are used in, say, Texas or New York. However, in general, there are factors that are mostly applied to all alimony guidelines. These include length of the marriage or civil union, age of the parties at the time of the divorce, relative income of the parties, and the gender of the recipient.
Also, there are four general types of alimony. First, there's temporary alimony, which is ordered when the spouses have not been divorced yet but are already separated. Second is rehabilitative alimony. This type of alimony is temporary and is only given for a specified period of time. The purpose of this alimony is to give support to the spouse with a lower income until he or she can find a job and become self-supporting.
The third type is permanent alimony. This will only end in the occurrence of one of the following circumstances: the remarriage of the recipient, or the death of either of the spouses. The fourth and last type is reimbursement alimony, which is compensating for expenses a spouse incurred during a marriage.
It is important to note that a judge does not award alimony on all couples that get divorced. The judge usually awards alimony when, for most of a lengthy marriage, one spouse has been financially dependent on the other spouse.
Another thing one must keep in mind is that alimony and child support are not the same. The two are very different things. Also, to the recipient, alimony is considered as taxable income while child support is not. To the payer, on the other hand, alimony is tax deductible while child support is not tax deductible.
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Ed Sherman is the author of How to Do Your Own Divorce in California and the divorce expert attorney famous for founding Nolo Press and the self-help law movement. Since 1971, his books and software have saved divorcing couples BILLIONS of dollars in legal fees. He owns www.CaliforniaDivorceForms.org, where he provides comprehensive advice and tips on how to get the best possible California divorce.