Will I pay or receive alimony?

Financial support from one spouse to the other after a divorce can either be child support or alimony.  Alimony is money one spouse will pay the other to help them meet their financial needs.  Unlike child support, there are no easy mathematical formulas for alimony.  Instead, the appropriate amount of alimony depends on a combination of precise factual arguments about how much each spouse earns, how much each spouse needs to pay for their ongoing expenses, and what happened during the marriage.

In alimony cases, it is important to know how much the other spouse is earning.  In some cases, one spouse will try to hide income before the divorce through a financial process called “divorce planning.”  This could include purposefully earning less than they are able, deferring part of their income until after the divorce, or hiding part of their income in other financial accounts or locations.  In these cases, it is important to draft targeted discovery requests and conduct a comprehensive financial analysis and investigation in order to make sure that the appropriate support is ordered.