Law Office of Joanne Kleiner

Alimony

Feb 21

Comparing and Contrasting the Various Types of Alimony in Divorce

A Brief Explanation of the Different Types of Alimony

Although everything is rarely split right down the middle in a divorce, the process almost always breaks apart most, if not all, aspects of spouses’ lives. According to a 2013 U.S. Census Bureau publication, 93.4% of the 1.8 million Americans who provide alimony to their former romantic partners or spouses are men. Of the $18.3 billion given to ex-partners or ex-spouses as court-ordered financial support, the mean and median annual amounts were $5,154 and $9,958, respectively.

All Alimony Eventually Boils Down to This

No matter what type of alimony you’re ordered to pay, it’s still alimony. Alimony, like all elements of divorce, is highly situationally dependent. In other words, alimony payments won’t just depend on your income.

The purpose of alimony is to support your ex-spouse’s lifestyle following a divorce. As you’ll learn throughout this article, different types of alimony serve different purposes. All of them, however, force someone to make regular payments to his or her ex-spouse.

A Precursor — Understanding Divorce and Legal Separation

Before diving into these three types of alimony, it’s important to understand the differences between divorce and legal separation.

As you may know, courts use marriages to officially recognize partners as full-fledged spouses. Marriages create legal obligations and rights for spouses, including the choice to file income taxes as married filing jointly. The IRS actually encourages married couples to file jointly by offering them several tax credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

Similar to how courts legally recognize marriage, courts also formally recognize divorce as the immediate, permanent dissolution of marriage. Although alimony can be an upside or a downside, depending on which side you’re on, divorce comes with downsides, such as potentially having the responsibility to make financial support payments to your soon-to-be ex-spouse.

In terms of legal recognition, Pennsylvania courts don’t care whether you’re engaged to or dating someone. Conversely, splitting from your spouse without getting divorced does, in fact, hold legal weight in some states. This alternative to divorce is known as legal separation.

Pennsylvania, however, doesn’t have laws that recognize legal separation. The Quaker State allows spouses to create separation agreements that have many of the same functions as divorces without actually getting divorced.

Some of these functions include splitting property, creating co-parenting schedules, determining alimony payments, calculating child support obligations, and establishing who’s responsible for paying bills and outstanding debts.

Now that you understand the difference between legal separation and divorce, we can review the three different types of alimony recognized by the Keystone State: spousal support, alimony and alimony pendente lite.

Spousal Support

Unlike alimony or alimony pendente lite, spousal support is the only type of alimony that requires legal separation to be involved. Although courts want both spouses to support themselves, judges grant spousal support to dependent spouses to help them get on their feet.

Spousal support is available after you’ve formally filed a separation agreement and up until you or your spouse file for divorce. It doesn’t matter who files for divorce. As such, this form of financial support ends whether you or your spouse files for divorce.

Pennsylvania courts use a complex formula, which is found under 231 Pa. Code § 1910.16-4, to calculate the dollar amount of spousal support owed.

Alimony Pendente Lite

After spousal support eligibility ends, the dependent spouse can receive alimony pendente lite, which translates from Latin into English as “alimony pending litigation.”

This type of court-ordered financial support begins after a spouse has filed a divorce complaint and ends after the divorce is finalized.

Alimony pendente lite helps dependent spouses keep their proverbial heads above water throughout the divorce process. It also gives them the chance to properly defend themselves in court by hiring a divorce lawyer. Alimony pendente lite is calculated with the same formula that’s mentioned above. It’s just as long, and arguably too complex, for any non-attorney to understand.

Alimony

This is the alimony you probably had in mind before reading this article. In Pennsylvania, judges award alimony to dependent spouses to lighten the financial load of transitioning to pre-marriage life.

Although exceptions exist, alimony usually doesn’t break the better-off spouse’s bank. Judges strive to be reasonable when determining whether dependent spouses should receive ongoing financial support and, if so, what amount.

Lastly, there isn’t a time limit for alimony payments. Still, you shouldn’t expect to make monthly alimony payments indefinitely. Court-ordered spousal financial support usually won’t last more than a few years.

If you’re anticipating a divorce or legal separation, you can’t go wrong by contacting the Law Office of Joanne Kleiner of Jenkintown at (215) 886-1266. The firm’s sole practitioner, the well-tenured divorce lawyer, Joanne Kleiner, has more than 42 years of legal experience. You can also reach us by filling out our website’s contact form.

Sep 19

The Impact of COVID-19 on Child Support and Alimony Orders

How COVID-19 Is Impacting Child Support and Alimony Orders

This year, the spread of COVID-19 brought most areas of everyday life to a screeching halt. With more than 45 million Americans filing for unemployment at the beginning of state-ordered shutdowns from mid-March to early April, most households have experienced a change in their employment and, possibly, their finances. Changing finances can affect the households of divorced couples and parents who have informal or court-ordered financial support arrangements in place.

How Covid-19 Is Affecting Spousal and Child Support

Recent spikes in unemployment have caused many people’s incomes to decrease rapidly and unexpectedly. For custodial parents and recently divorced individuals, a sudden reduction in their household income makes child support and alimony payments even more critical for maintaining their lifestyles. At the same time, parents and former spouses who are required to make maintenance payments may find themselves struggling to meet their financial obligations. As a result, both sides are more likely to find themselves seeking legal recourse.

Impacts on Child Custody Arrangements and Visitation

COVID-19’s effects extend beyond financial support orders. People who have court-ordered visitation agreements may be unable to follow their regular schedules due to travel restrictions and health advisories. Parents who typically meet their children in public settings during visits or to exchange custody may find it challenging to find a mutually convenient, safe setting in which they can have visits or pick up their children. In addition to parents facing logistical challenges, courts and administrative agencies must also develop solutions to compliance-related questions.

What Can Custodial Parents and Formerly Dependent Spouses Do?

Every case is different. Therefore, parents who have custody of their children and individuals who receive spousal support should immediately notify their attorneys if COVID-19 is disrupting their child support or alimony payments. In cases in which both adults can communicate civilly, both parties may be able to work out temporary arrangements and abide by them for as long as the pandemic impacts their original agreement. Parties that can agree to modify their agreement should contact their respective lawyers and put the new terms in writing.

What Can Noncustodial Parents and Former Spouses Who Pay Alimony Do?

Parents and individuals who are ordered to make support payments to their former spouses and/or their children may get a reprieve by requesting a modification. If the paying party is unable to agree with the receiving party to temporarily amend the current support order’s terms, the paying party may unilaterally seek a modification in court by filing a motion. To file the motion, the party who wishes to seek a modification should contact a divorce lawyer or, if the parties were never married, a family law attorney who specializes in child custody cases.

Jurisdictional Changes Due to COVID-19

Several jurisdictions across the U.S. are making adjustments to their standard procedures due to the impact of coronavirus. Courts are closed due to social distancing orders. In many cities and states, administrative staff members work remotely and may have modified office hours. Court closures and staffing limitations have led to delays in hearing schedules, and court access may be much more limited than under ordinary circumstances. The responses from different states have been mixed. In some states, courts may be shut down completely, which may result in compounding debt for noncustodial parents who have recently lost their jobs due to the impact of COVID-19 on business operations.

Legal Advice for Support Orders Affected by COVID-19

Whether you have been ordered to make maintenance payments to a spouse or support payments for a child or if you are the court-ordered recipient of support payments, the first step toward seeking legal remedy to challenges presented by COVID-19 is to contact a divorce lawyer. Your attorney will know about the latest updates on how your jurisdiction is currently processing cases that involve support orders. Our Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, divorce lawyer can help you navigate even the most contentious situations while protecting your rights. Call us today at (215) 886-1266 for a case evaluation.

Aug 30

The Impact of Cohabitation on Alimony in Pennsylvania

Adult couple talk and drink wine in the kitchen.

Though alimony, or spousal support, is far less common than it was a quarter of a century ago, there are still many circumstances where the court will order temporary, or even permanent, payment of support from one spouse to another. Typically, however, the alimony order contains a stipulation that terminates the obligation to pay alimony if the recipient remarries. The provision can also apply if the beneficiary is found to be cohabitating with another person in an intimate relationship.

It’s important to understand, though, that it’s not necessary to have such a provision in a divorce decree for the law to be applied. In fact, Pennsylvania law is clear that, when a person enters into cohabitation with a person of the opposite sex who is not a family member, an alimony order can be terminated. The law does not specify a length of time for the cohabitation to render a spousal support order invalid. Instead, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled that cohabitation will be decided on a case-by-case basis, looking at all evidence of “financial, social and sexual interdependence.”

Alimony is a discretionary award in Pennsylvania, with the court looking at a variety of factors, including age and health of the parties, income potential, standard of living, and relative needs of the parties, all in an effort to bring about a result that is fair. When one spouse, typically the lower earning spouse, must try to survive on her or his own, the courts are more inclined to see it as fair to expect the other party to defray some of those expenses. However, if the party receiving alimony chooses to cohabitate with another person, it can be assumed that there will be additional income and the spousal support is no longer necessary or fair.

Contact Us

At the office of Joanne E. Kleiner & Associates, we have more than 25 years of family law experience. We’ll help you stay focused on what matters. To schedule an appointment with an experienced Pennsylvania divorce attorney, contact our office online or call us at 215-886-1266.

Mar 21

Is Alimony Available in Pennsylvania?

Alimony

If your marriage is in trouble and you are considering filing for divorce, one of your concerns, whether you are a working or stay-at-home spouse, is whether alimony will be part of the divorce decree. Though alimony is nowhere near as common as it used to be, with both spouses working in most marriages, the court still has the discretion to require that one party pay the other a monthly allowance, and that can take a number of forms.

The first thing to understand is that Pennsylvania makes a distinction between spousal support and alimony. Spousal support is paid before a divorce is final and alimony is paid after a divorce decree is entered. Spousal support can be ordered, even if no divorce complaint has been filed. Once a complaint is filed, the court typically enters an alimony pendent lite order, or alimony “while the divorce action is pending.”

The Criteria for Determining Whether Alimony is Warranted

In Pennsylvania, the courts will consider a number of factors to when making the decision whether to grant alimony, including:

  • The earning potential and capacity of both parties
  • The age and health of the parties
  • How long the parties have been married
  • The standard of living to which the parties were accustomed during the marriage
  • Any contribution that one party made to the earning capacity of the other—paying for college education or job training, for example
  • The relative assets and liabilities of the parties
  • The  contribution of a spouse as homemaker
  • Any marital misconduct or fault, such as infidelity

The Duration of Alimony in Pennsylvania

In general, the courts can order alimony for a specific period of time, with a designated end date, or until the court changes the order. Typically, an alimony order will end if the recipient remarries or cohabitates with a person of the opposite sex who is not a family member. It will also terminate if either party dies.

Contact Attorney Joanne E. Kleiner

Let us help you protect your rights. Contact our office online or call us at 215-886-1266 to schedule a confidential consultation. We will help you stay focused on the issues that matter.