Maintenance

The most important consideration for many budding divorcees is the question of what the courts will decide to do in the case of “maintenance payments”. The major breadwinner, especially, wishes to know how separation might affect his finances after the dust has settled when proceeding with these legal matters. The state of Texas provides some guideline with regard to marital separation and maintenance that you should be aware of.

First, there are certain prerequisites which must be met for a court to award maintenance payments to one of the divorcees. The first condition under which the State of Texas could order one spouse to pay another, is if the paying party (obligor) has committed domestic abuse (otherwise known as family violence) within two years of when the petition for divorce was filed. The second case is when a couple has been married for over ten years and the obligee (paid spouse) cannot support his or herself due to a lack of skills necessary for entry into the job market or some disability, or in the case that the obligee must care for a child born in the marriage with a disability, regardless of age.

Once it has been determined that the preliminary conditions are met, then the courts go about analyzing the specifics of the relationship and the spouses to determine the amount and length of these maintenance payments. As you can imagine, almost any variable within the purview of the marriage can have an impact on the decision of the courts. Such as how much education or training the obligee has, how long the couple has been married, property the couple acquired together, how well the obligor can support themself, and, of course, who was at fault in the divorce.

While this can be a financial burden to the party required to make the payments, all is not woe for the obligor, as there are limits to how much a court can order them to pay. Monthly payments cannot be in excess of $2,500 or twenty percent of the obligor’s monthly income, whichever is the lessor of the two values. The responsibility to make these payments will also be terminated in the case of death of either spouse or if the person receiving the payments remarries. If the payments are made in the case of a temporary disability, then they continue only as long as the disability does and once the disability has concluded, then so may the payments.

The complexity involved when such a great number of variables are included in the final calculation of monetary dues is the reason why divorce proceedings can be difficult. All facets of a relationship must be considered and prepared in detail before presenting one’s case to the courts. A divorce which may involve monetary remittances should be handled with the utmost care so that an obligor will only pay what is fair and an obligee will receive that to which he or she is entitled.