Spousal Support, Alimony, and Maintenance
Types and factors
Spousal support may be temporary (pendente lite), rehabilitative, permanent, lump-sum, reimbursement, or bridge-the-gap. Judges weigh need and ability to pay, marriage length, standard of living, age and health, earning capacity, contributions to the marriage, custody, and sometimes fault. A long marriage with a spouse out of the workforce supports longer or permanent maintenance; a short marriage usually supports limited rehabilitation.
Tax and modification
For orders executed after 2018, federal law generally disallows a payor deduction and excludes support from the recipient's income; older agreements may be grandfathered. Modification requires a substantial change in circumstances, such as job loss, retirement, illness, or cohabitation. Support usually terminates on death or remarriage, and cohabitation may terminate it under statute or agreement. Enforcement tools include contempt, wage withholding, liens, and license suspension.
Worked example
A 20-year marriage, one spouse stayed home with children and has no recent earnings. Opposing counsel proposes six months of support. The paralegal should gather vocational and income evidence and flag the length-of-marriage and standard-of-living factors for the attorney; six months is likely inadequate without a detailed analysis.
Traps
Assuming alimony is automatic; applying the old tax rule to a new order; filing modification without changed facts; failing to reduce arrears to judgment; misreading cohabitation clauses.