Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
Spousal Support
My former husband of 30 years recently had a stroke and is unble to work. The doctors expect him to make a full recovery. He was paying $500 a month in spousal support. His lawyer has filed a Motion to Reinstate and filed a corresponding Order to Reinstate on the docket of the court, for entry of an Order to abate Defendant's(my former husband) spousal support obligation due to health issues which have created a job loss of indeterminate length.
My questions are: (1) Do I need to--name removed--represented--name removed--a lawyer in this matter? (2) If the judge agrees to stop the payments until he goes back to work, will the payments automatically restart when he returns to work? Or, will I have to return to court at that time to ask the court to reinstate the support?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Spousal Support
1. Even with an attorney representing you, the court is likely to at least suspend your former husband's spousal support obligation until he can again become gainfully employed. (However, if a motion is filed to vacate the spousal support and you want it to continue after your husband resumes his work, you'll very likely need counsel to have any chance of preventing that from occurring).
2. Will likely depend upon how the order is worded but despite the best efforts at verbal clarity, confusion may nevertheless still develop regarding as to what exactly is required to restart the payments so you should be prepared for the possibility of having to return to court.
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