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Alimony

Smith & Garg - Spring Alimony Attorneys

Based on Texas statutes and public policy, court ordered alimony is not valid in the state of Texas. Interestingly enough, Texas is one of the only states in the United States that does not permit the award of alimony. Under limited circumstances spousal maintenance may be awarded to one of the parties, in which case, the parties most likely have been married for 10 years or longer, the spouse seeking spousal maintenance lacks sufficient property to provide for minimum reasonable needs for herself and her children, and the spouse seeking spousal maintenance is unable to support herself because of an incapacitating disability (which had to have existed before the divorce), or has primary custody of a child who has special needs, or lacks the earning ability adequate enough to provide support for her or her children's minimum reasonable needs. The duration of spousal support is limited to the shortest period of time that will allow the spouse to obtain appropriate employment or develop an appropriate skill, unless the spouse's ability to gain employment is diminished due to a disability, caring for a very young child or special needs child, or some other impediment to gainful employment.

In order to determine what constitutes prohibited alimony, you need to check if future periodic payments for support of the spouse were imposed by court order or decree, as a personal obligation of the other spouse. Now, although court ordered alimony may not be valid, contractual alimony is valid. What does that mean? Basically, the parties enter into a property settlement agreement of some kind, which is then incorporated into the divorce decree. Typically, this type of agreement provides that one party shall make periodic payments to the other party over a specified period of time.

Contact a Spring, Conroe alimony attorney at Smith & Garg today to help you with your divorce, so that you can have an expert review and discuss alimony or spousal maintenance issues.

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