Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota

Re: Spouse Maintenance Question

Thank you for your question regarding spousal maintenance.

I presume you are in the midst of an ongoing divorce proceeding. You should address this question to your lawyer, if you are represented, since I presume he/she has a complete command of the facts. If you are not represented, you should be, since settling a maintenance issue requires very careful drafting to avoid a potentially permanent obligation, or one that gets extended because of later deterioration in her financial circumstances.

With that aside, my opinion is that her prospective living arrangements may certainly have an effect on the terms of a maintenance settlement. Maintenance (alimony in the old days) is awarded based on her need (the amount by which her expenses exceed income), and your ability to pay. If she has an income producing asset (a rental property, for example) that may affect her need, and hence, your obligation for maintenance.

The general rule is that her income includes not only her earnings from employment, but also income from her savings or investments, including real estate.

It would be necessary to review the facts in much more detail, and it is not really possible to give you advice about this issue in isolation from other issues in the case -- including the distribution of property and whether there is some sort of "Karon" waiver involved. Further, the length of your marriage, her age and yours, your employment histories, etc., are all relevant to this issue.

If you have further questions, you may contact me directly. My contact information is below.

Good luck.

Re: Spouse Maintenance Question

Certainly, any analysis with regard to spousal maintenance must consider many factors including the length of the marriage and employability of the parties. It would also consider tha amount of property that each party is awarded including revenue producing property.

Once spousal support is determined, if ther is no waiver with regard to its amount or duraction, it can be modified any time there is a change in circumstance making the award unreasonable or unfair.

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