It not not uncommon in households for mothers to stay home with their young children instead of having a full time job. If the father’s job can support the family and allow the mother to be home with their children often times family choose to go that route. There are many benefits that come with staying home with your children, but there are also unthought about disadvantages that mother’s do not want to think about.
In the case of a divorce from your husband, it could potentially be very difficult to support yourself. Because your previous year’s experience is being a stay at home mother you do not have adequate work experience to get a job that is going to support your current lifestyle and the lifestyle your children are used to.
The courts have determined that just as a child will need child support from the parent who has been supporting them, their stay at home parent may also need to be supported by the working parents until they are able to support themselves. A spousal maintenance attorney can help walk your through the steps.
What is in Place to Support an Ex-Spouse?
Spousal maintenance has been put into effect to help a spouse who is incapable of getting a job due to the sacrifice they had made previously to help raise their family and support the working partner. Spousal maintenance works similar to child support in the sense that it is paid monthly and arranged by the courts.
There are different levels of spousal maintenance. Depending on your ability to get a job in the near future, the court may rule for a couple of years of spousal maintenance or they may rule for a lifetime of spousal maintenance be paid. Each case is determined on a case by case basis and there is no calculator in place to determine how much money will be paid to the other member of the broken marriage.
As mentioned, spousal maintenance is determined through the court system and will vary based on a needs system. However, there are times that the court ordered payments will come to an end. If the spouse receiving spousal maintenance chooses to remarry the payments will cease. If the payer passes away the payments will also stop.
Spousal maintenance was put into place to make sure the treatment of parents who have dedicated their careers to staying home with their children to raise them how they and their other spouse see fit are not taken for granted after a divorce. Given the proper funding and time, many people are able to locate a job that can support their lifestyles and are happy to be taken off of their spousal maintenance orders.
