Arizona Alimony Laws
The decision to end a marriage comes with many considerations, including whether or not one spouse requires alimony. Sometimes the parties can come to an agreement on their own. Other times, the court needs to weigh in on the matter and, if it awards alimony, decide on the amount and the duration of the award. Arizona laws permit the court to award alimony, but these laws do not stipulate specific formulas, maximum payout amounts and time frame of the payment. When determining alimony in an Arizona divorce case, it will consider many factors of the particular union. Anyone with questions about alimony or any other aspect of Arizona divorce law should consult with an attorney well-versed in this area of law.
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Permissible Circumstances for Alimony
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Typically, Arizona courts will consider an alimony award only when specific circumstances exist. These include lack of sufficient property for self-support, having to care for a child whose mental or physical disabilities make it difficult to maintain gainful employment, lack of earning ability, circumstances when one spouse contributed to the education of another, and instances where the marriage lasted a very long time and the spouse's age makes it difficult to find suitable employment for self-support.
Exclusion of Marital Misconduct
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Arizona law does not permit the courts to consider marital misconduct on the part of either party when determining an alimony award. This also goes for division of property. This means that something like adultery would not influence the decision to award or withhold alimony or how much a spouse should pay.
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Relevant Considerations
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When the court deems alimony necessary, the law outlines what factors the court can consider when determining the award. Relevant considerations include, but are not limited to, how long the marriage lasted, standard of living achieved during the union, the age of the receiving spouse, the physical and mental health of the receiving spouse, training and education of the receiving spouse, financial resources of each spouse, ability of the paying spouse to meet alimony payments, time it would take the receiving spouse to find gainful employment through education and/or training, cost of health insurance, and the contribution of the receiving spouse to the education, training or earning ability of the other.
Alimony Payments
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Unless another method of payment has previously been agreed upon or ordered by the court, Arizona alimony payments go through a clearinghouse that distributes the payments to the receiving spouses.
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References
- Photo Credit marriage image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
