With how reliant many Louisiana residents are on their spouse’s income, it can be jarring to begin living without it after a divorce. Some people may adjust fine if they have a well-paid job that can support them and their child, while others may not be so lucky making the shift from a house to an apartment.
Alimony is often a tough subject in divorce because people do not want to continually pay someone they are no longer with. However, if the court finds that one of the spouses will have a difficult time adjusting financially to the separation, they will set the amount of payment and how long one spouse will owe the other. If you have concerns about your upcoming financial status, you should be aware of the most common factors found within Louisiana alimony cases.
Job and education status
Some Louisiana spouses sacrificed their education or the chance for a financially stable job to be with their partner. With how long it can take to get a job that can support them on their own, the court will assign an amount based on how much the lesser earning spouse will need for standard living conditions. The length of the marriage and how long the higher earning spouse had their job also play a critical role here. If the lesser earning spouse gets a well-paid job in the future, the other spouse can request to decrease or cancel the alimony.
Child custody
While the court does consider financial statuses when determining custody of the child of the couple, there have been numerous instances where the lower earning parent retains primary custody of their kid. The court will calculate the alimony based on how the child affects the parent’s income. Alimony and child support are two different payments, which is especially important to keep in mind with the upcoming change in alimony tax laws.
A fault divorce
Louisiana divorces can happen on both fault and no-fault grounds. If the court finds that the separation happened because one of the spouses is a convicted felon or committed adultery, then the other spouse will likely get alimony payment. Normal alimony payments do not exceed one-third of the paying spouse’s income, but there is an exception if the obligator was found guilty of one of those faults.
Alimony is one of the most difficult aspects of a divorce because it drastically affects how both spouses function after their separation. An experienced Louisiana family law attorney can help an upcoming divorcee if they are searching to decrease their alimony payments or getting as much as they can to adjust properly after this emotionally and financially draining period.