Texas Alimony Revealed
In Texas, alimony is called spousal maintenance and may be available to a spouse post-divorce. Spousal maintenance is a claim made on behalf of one spouse to receive periodic payments for support from the other spouse. The maintenance payments are designed to protect long-term homemakers, disabled spouses, and spouses who care for disabled children. The purpose is to provide a new divorcee time to rehabilitate and become self-sufficient in earning an income. In 2011, statutes governing spousal maintenance were amended to better serve the overall spousal restoration purpose.
The court will not order maintenance payments in a divorce decree or after the dissolution of the marriage when the requesting spouse does not meet the eligibility requirements. There is a presumption that spousal maintenance is not necessary for any case. In order to overcome the presumption, the requesting spouse will have to provide sufficient evidence that warrants the need for spousal maintenance payments.
To determine whether spousal maintenance is warranted in your case, the court will judge the requesting spouse’s ability to earn a sufficient income to cover the spouse’s reasonable minimum needs. The decision to award payments or not to award payments will depend completely on weighing the different facts of your case with your own ability to provide for yourself after a divorce. The duration of an ordered payment can vary based on individual circumstance as well. The court’s broad discretion in deciding if spousal maintenance is proper and if so how much should be awarded and how long those payments should be made, allows for flexibility to adapt to unique factual circumstances of every case. The amount a court can award is the lesser of $5,000 or 20% of paying spouse’s gross resources.
Courts may order that the paying spouse’s wages be withheld in order to collect a spousal maintenance payment. Wages may also be withheld for the same purpose by a voluntary writ of withholding. Failure to make spousal maintenance payments can result in contempt charges. The Texas Family Code allows a payor to be held in contempt for non-payment, however, it may be a defense to the payor if a payor can show an inability to provide the payment, a lack of sufficient property to be mortgaged, sold, or exchanged for monetary value, and attempted and could not obtain the funds from anyone else in order to satisfy the maintenance payment.
Spousal maintenance payment can be modified if there are material and substantial changes in the conditions of why the spousal maintenance payment was ordered in the first place. Circumstances may change over the years and a spouse may need more or less spousal maintenance based on life occurrences. Payments may be terminated if the spouse receiving spousal maintenance payments begins to cohabitate intimately with another person. Payments will also terminate upon the death of either spouse and the remarriage of either spouse.
To learn more about the basics of Texas alimony, do not hesitate to reach out to our team of knowledgeable lawyers.