What is Spousal Support and How Does It Work in TX?

The alimony laws are unique in the Lone Star State.

In the 1990s, Texas was one of the last states in the country to enact a spousal support (a/k/a alimony or maintenance) law. Even today, the law is limited.

Usually, the obligee (spouse receiving maintenance) must be unable to maintain minimum reasonable needs due to an incapacitating mental or physical disability. Alternatively, the obligee must be unable to meet minimum reasonable needs, and the marriage must have lasted at least ten years. In both cases, the amount is capped at 20% of the obligor’s gross income or $5,000 per month, whichever is less.

Obligors and obligees alike have important rights in spousal support matters. Therefore, both an obligor and an obligee need a determined Ft. Worth family law attorney as a legal advocate.

Amount and Duration of Payments

The statute does not define “minimum reasonable needs,” perhaps the most important concept in an initial determination. Instead, the law includes some factors to consider, such as:

• Obligor’s ability to pay (not the obligor’s willingness to pay),
• Obligee’s financial need (not financial wants),
• Length of the marriage,
• Each spouse’s future earning ability,
• Standard of living during the marriage,
• Custody of minor children,
• Noneconomic contributions to the relationship, and
• Fault in the breakup of the marriage.

Additionally, several presumptions apply. Perhaps most importantly, the law includes a presumption that alimony is inappropriate. So, a Ft. Worth family law attorney must overcome that presumption on behalf of an obligee or enforce it on behalf of an obligor.

The law also presumes, or rather requires, the judge to award the least amount of maintenance possible. Furthermore, in Texas, alimony helps obligees become economically self-sufficient. Alimony doesn’t redistribute income between the spouses, except in rare situations.

Furthermore, the narrow law generally limits the duration of maintenance payments to five years (if the marriage lasted less than twenty years), seven years (20 to 30-year marriage), or 10 years (longer than 30 years).

Subsequent Modifications

The judge may modify or terminate, but not extend, maintenance payments if the income-based economic need/ability balance changes, the obligee’s disability is removed, or the obligee remarries.

Income changes must be permanent, substantial, and unanticipated. Performance bonuses or business downturns are not permanent changes. As a rule of thumb, a 10% income change constitutes a substantial change. As for unanticipated, the obligor’s retirement, one of the most common claims in a motion to modify, usually is not an unanticipated change. Additionally, the change must involve good faith. Obligees cannot quit their jobs to obtain more spousal support.

Removal of disability could directly or indirectly affect maintenance payments. For example, if Sally was receiving Social Security Disability benefits and the Social Security Administration rules she’s no longer disabled, a family law judge could reduce or terminate Sally’s maintenance payments.

The obligee’s remarriage terminates maintenance payments as a matter of law. A marriage-like relationship has a similar effect. Factors to consider include the length of that relationship as well as joint financial activity (joint purchases, money given to each other’s children, joint checking account, etc.).

Connect With a Thorough Tarrant County Attorney

Texas’ spousal maintenance laws are very complex. For a confidential consultation with an experienced family law attorney in Ft. Worth, contact the Law Office of Kyle Whitaker. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we start working for you.