Suppose you’ve completed a divorce case and received a spousal maintenance order. You might assume you’re bound to pay it indefinitely. However, this isn’t always the case. The crucial factor is whether your ex-spouse has entered a romantic relationship. If they have, you can explore how to avoid spousal support obligations by presenting evidence of their new relationship status in court.
Ending Spousal Maintenance: Proving Your Ex’s New Relationship
You might be able to avoid paying spousal maintenance in the future if your ex-spouse enters a romantic relationship. Here is how you can make this your reality. You must prove to a judge that your ex-spouse has entered into such a relationship. You can accomplish this by proving that your ex-spouse is in a romantic relationship and living with that person. These are the grounds for filing and winning a petition to terminate a spousal maintenance order.
This can be easier said than done, however. Proving that your ex-spouse is in a cohabitation situation with a romantic partner isn’t easy. Arguing that you weren’t truly in a romantic relationship or cohabitating with another person can be relatively easy. Your spouse can easily maneuver out of these situations. That means you need to be very good about collecting evidence to present at a potential hearing.
Uncovering Your Ex-Spouse’s Relationship: Utilizing Social Media
Social media is a great place to catch your ex-spouse red-handed when it comes to being in a romantic relationship. People tend to let their guard down when it comes to how they use social media. Use that to your advantage! Check if your ex-spouse is posting photos of a new house or apartment where it’s obvious that their significant other is living with them. If your ex-spouse has remarried, then that is all the proof you need to have your spousal maintenance obligation ended.
One important distinction to note is that the rules governing spousal maintenance may not necessarily apply to contractual alimony. This is unless you include specific language in your Final Decree of Divorce allowing you to cease payments if certain conditions are met, such as remarriage or cohabitation with a romantic partner. Unlike spousal maintenance, the enforcement and termination rules for contractual alimony differ. Therefore, it’s crucial to be precise when including language in your Final Decree regarding the circumstances under which maintenance payments can cease.
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In Texas, the duration of your marriage correlates with the potential duration of spousal maintenance payments. Texas law imposes strict criteria for spousal maintenance eligibility. Typically, you must have been married for a minimum of ten years in Texas to qualify for spousal maintenance. There is an exception based on family or domestic violence in the marriage, however. Even if your marriage is less than ten years old, you may still qualify for spousal maintenance. That is if you are disabled or the primary caregiver for a disabled child. In such cases, your spouse must demonstrate an inability to meet their minimum basic needs.
Setting Realistic Expectations for Spousal Maintenance
The presumption guiding a judge’s analysis of spousal maintenance is that your spouse should receive the minimum amount necessary to meet their basic needs. Any notion of awarding a sum for an opulent lifestyle isn’t realistic. If you have friends or family members who are telling you to be ready to pay through the roof levels of spousal maintenance that isn’t realistic, either. You are limited to paying up to 20% of your monthly gross income in spousal maintenance.
There are caps on the duration that spousal maintenance can be ordered by a family court judge. Ten years is the longest period that a judge can typically award spousal maintenance for marriages that have lasted longer than thirty years. Twenty-to-thirty-year marriages are eligible for seven years of spousal maintenance and marriages that lasted between ten and twenty years are eligible for up to five years of spousal maintenance. Note that I am saying “up to” five, seven, or ten years. The judge doesn’t have to, and quite possibly will not, award your spouse the maximum length of spousal maintenance available under the law.
Look at your life and your budget
A divorce frequently pushes people to make changes in their life. In the event of a divorce, you may find yourself responsible for paying spousal maintenance or contractual alimony. This is true especially especially if you’re the higher-earning spouse. Typically, the higher-earning spouse assumes this obligation, while it’s less common for them to receive such support.
Many people in your shoes would think about taking a lower-paying job to avoid spousal maintenance. You can’t get blood out of a turnip, as they say. However, this is not only going to put you in a tough position (you still have bills to pay, after all) but is penny-wise and pound foolish. I would prefer that you start to budget your lifestyle and prepare for the possibility of paying for spousal maintenance. If you have never operated under a budget, then you probably have no idea where your money is going. You may be spending money on things that you had no clue about. That money can be better utilized to pay off debt, pay child support, or pay spousal maintenance if you absolutely must do so.
Show the judge that your spouse does not need to be paid spousal maintenance
Your spouse might seek alimony as a way to retaliate against you for the divorce or grievances from your marriage. It’s common for divorce to impact decision-making and emotions, leading to such actions. The stress and worry that comes with divorce are real.
Challenging Alimony Claims: Ensuring Needs Over Lifestyle
Your spouse may be pushing for alimony that he or she may not truly need, as a result. Maintaining a certain lifestyle is not a good enough reason to be paid alimony. Rather, your spouse must show that he or she lacks sufficient income or resources to provide for their minimum reasonable needs. That means paying your bills, having a place to live, and being able to get to and from work. It is not the same thing as being able to live the same lifestyle that you had become accustomed to as a married person.
It can be challenging to persuade your spouse that seeking alimony isn’t justified or reasonable. During the divorce proceedings, focus on demonstrating that your spouse has adequate resources to support themselves post-divorce. For instance, consider if they have substantial separate property or recently inherited a sizable sum that can sustain them until they secure employment.
Exploring Alimony during Discovery in Your Divorce
You can start to look for this kind of information in earnest during the discovery phase of your divorce. Discovery is a process whereby you and your spouse will both be able to ask for documents, answers to questions, and other information about their case. Typically, he or she will need to send back responses or objections within thirty days of receiving the discovery requests. This is a good way to determine your spouse’s plans for alimony as well as what resources may be available to her that could negate the need for alimony or spousal maintenance.
What is the custody situation with your kids?
Depending on how much your spouse is going to have your children after the divorce he or she may not even need spousal maintenance or contractual alimony. The cost of living and maintaining a household increases when you have children. Depending upon the needs of your children this increase in cost may not be significant. However, if your children do not have special needs the costs could be lower than you may imagine.
If you are awarded primary custody of your children, then that lessens the amount of time that your spouse must be caring for them. Therefore, it would stand to reason that the costs associated with raising the kids would also decrease. If you are the one who is providing most of the care to your children, then you should not also have to pay child support unless there is a massive disparity in income between you and your spouse in terms of your income.
When do the payments need to end?
Spousal maintenance payments typically last for a maximum of five, seven, or ten years depending upon the length of your marriage. Marriages that lasted between 10 and 20 years can receive a maximum of five years of spousal maintenance. Twenty-to-thirty-year marriages can receive a maximum of seven years while marriages that have lasted at least thirty years could receive a maximum of ten years of spousal maintenance. However, a judge in Texas will award the minimum amount of spousal maintenance that is necessary to allow the receiving spouse to meet their minimum, reasonable needs.
This is an important point to make because many people operate under the assumption that their spouse is going to be paid spousal maintenance or alimony for an indefinite or even never-ending period. Spousal maintenance will always have a termination date unless your spouse has a disability that prevents her from working or unless your spouse is going to be the primary caregiver to a child that requires around-the-clock care. In that case, a court will likely require your spouse to provide regular updates on their condition to determine whether or not spousal maintenance will continue to be necessary.
Another aspect of the discussion that I should mention is that if you agree to contractual alimony with your spouse you need to be careful to include a termination date if you want there to be one. While spousal maintenance will almost always have a “cut-off” date, the same cannot be said for contractual alimony. If you and your spouse agree to contractual alimony, then there is no end point to that sort of payment under the Texas Family Code. To avoid being under a contractual alimony obligation for an indefinite period you can and should negotiate for a specific termination date.
Final thoughts on spousal maintenance and contractual alimony
Ultimately, all of the information contained in this blog post are based on my hypothetical situations which may or may not line up with your life. With that said, you need to have a plan of action heading into your divorce that is based on the specific circumstances that you are facing. What does this mean for you on a practical level?
Preparing Your Budget for Divorce Proceedings
Understand your budget when you head into a divorce. You should take the time to map out your take-home pay, your bills, what you anticipate child support will be (if any) as well as what a general budget will look like for your home as a single adult. This will help you to be able to plan out whether you even have the money in your budget that is necessary to pay spousal maintenance. For all the talk about your spouse’s needs, you have basic needs as well. Prepare a budget for a judge to review. This way you will have done your due diligence as far as your case is concerned.
Next, you must have a good idea of what your spouse’s needs are as far as spousal maintenance. If you don’t inquire about their budget, their income, and their separate property then you will not have any clue about how whether or not he or she needs spousal maintenance. As we mentioned a moment ago, going through discovery with your spouse is the best way to receive a great deal of the information that you will need in this regard. The more prepared you are with this information you will be able to negotiate with your spouse in mediation.
Negotiating Contractual Alimony in Mediation
If you are going to be negotiating contractual alimony in mediation, then you should be prepared to offer multiple types of payments. A lump sum payment may be preferable to your spouse if he or she needs a larger amount of money now. For example, she may be trying to complete a vocational training course or even a four-year college degree. A larger infusion of cash now may be preferable to receiving smaller sums over a longer period.
Finally, you need to be able to have someone by your side when it comes to negotiating on this subject in mediation or litigating this subject in a trial. There is so much at stake when it comes to the subject of post-divorce spousal support. The difference between paying seven years of spousal maintenance and not having that obligation is substantial. Think of what you can do with that money- pay down debt, help your children save for college- the list goes on and on. If your spouse has a legitimate need for temporary support that is one thing. However, if your spouse is merely trying to be aggressive in their negotiations but has no real need that is something you should be prepared to rebut with evidence of your own.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Bryan Fagan, a native of Atascocita, Texas, is a dedicated family law attorney inspired by John Grisham’s “The Pelican Brief.” He is the first lawyer in his family, which includes two adopted brothers. Bryan’s commitment to family is personal and professional; he cared for his grandmother with Alzheimer’s while completing his degree and attended the South Texas College of Law at night.
Married with three children, Bryan’s personal experiences enrich his understanding of family dynamics, which is central to his legal practice. He specializes in family law, offering innovative and efficient legal services. A certified member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, Bryan is part of an elite group of legal professionals committed to ongoing education and high-level expertise.
His legal practice covers divorce, custody disputes, property disputes, adoption, paternity, and mediation. Bryan is also experienced in drafting marital property agreements. He leads a team dedicated to complex family law cases and protecting families from false CPS allegations.
Based in Houston, Bryan is active in the Houston Family Law Sector of the Houston Bar Association and various family law groups in Texas. His deep understanding of family values and his professional dedication make him a compassionate advocate for families navigating Texas family law.
