Texas uses Spousal Maintenance instead of Alimony.
In Texas, we have our own words for things. Most people only know of alimony and think you can’t get it in Texas. You can. Spousal maintenance is contractual alimony by statute. Contractual alimony means that you agree to provide your spouse with some level of financial support for a period after the divorce is over.
Texans can get alimony or spousal support but there are some qualifications.
Spousal support depends on the number of years you’ve been married, whether there has been any physical or domestic abuse, if you have a disabled child, or if there is any reason you cannot work full-time to support yourself. The court is going ask if you have enough of an income to meet your reasonable minimum needs or if you have done your due diligence to get a job? If so, what kind of jobs have you been applying for? How often have you been applying? How many jobs have you applied for? To award alimony, the court will not accept the reply that you haven’t worked in 20 years so your former spouse should have to has to pay alimony.
In Texas, spousal support (alimony) is intended to be transitional.
It is not intended to be something to support you for the rest of your life. A judge can order it for a longer period, but that depends on several other factors. How old are the spouses? What’s the disparity in earning capacity? If one spouse has been building a career with a substantial income, but the other spouse has stayed home and cared for the children, that can cause a big difference in income potential.
The courts also consider the total assets and debts.
What’s your net estate? If it’s a significant amount of money, you could be given a disproportionate division of the assets. However, you don’t usually get both a disproportionate division of assets and spousal support. If the judge thinks that your income plus the asset division is sufficient to meet your minimum reasonable needs, then the judge will not order spousal support.
