Originally published by Brittney Inman.
Spousal Maintenance in Texas: Maximum payable amounts and length of commitments to pay
The attorneys with the
Law Office of Bryan Fagan are concluding their three part series on spousal maintenance by writing
about the limits of support payments and some advice on proceeding in
a courtroom when it comes to
spousal support. Whether you are requesting the support or are potentially on the hook
to pay spousal maintenance to your ex spouse there are issues to be aware
of prior to going to court.
Is there a ceiling on how much spousal support you can be ordered to pay?
The answer to this question is, yes. The Texas Legislature has set the cap on
spousal support payments as $5,000 a month or no more than twenty percent of the paying
spouse’s average gross monthly income, whichever amount is lower.
A court does not want to put anyone in a situation where they are having
to choose between paying their light bill, electricity,
child support or spousal support in lieu of another necessity. An accurate inventory
and appraisement that is filed with the court and served upon the opposing
party is a great way to make sure your financial status is well known
to all parties involved in your court case. That way, you can attempt
to nip in the bud any unrealistic requests for support before they even occur.
Time limits for spousal maintenance payments
In other words- how long can you be expected to either receive or pay
spousal maintenance? In short, the expectation from a court is, absent other circumstances
being in place, you should only be on the hook to pay support or be entitled
to receive support for a relatively short amount of time. Basically a
court will be looking to buy you enough time to earn a sufficient living
to provide for your basic needs. Other circumstances that may result in
a longer period of time for you to receive spousal maintenance payments
include your having a
disability that prevents you from working either part time or full time, your need
to be a caretaker for a child who requires around the clock care or any
other reason that a court believes will impede upon your ability to provide
for your minimum reasonable needs.
From my personal experience I have seen a judge award spousal maintenance
for 10 years in a situation where the parties had been married for nearly
forty years. That is the longest a court is able to award spousal support
for and it was granted in a case where the opposing party was an executive
for an energy company here in Houston and our client was the stay at home
mother for many years and had no education beyond high school.
Should you just agree with your spouse to pay some amount of spousal maintenance?
After reading the past few blog posts on the subject of spousal maintenance,
the thought may have crossed your mind to just agree to some amount of
spousal support with your spouse rather than to risk going to talk to
a judge on the subject and risk having to pay more money for a longer
period of time. Is this wise to do, though? Obviously, this sort of important
financial decision is an important one to get right and the middle of a
contested divorce is not necessarily a time period that you will be at your mental peak
in terms of concentration and decision making capabilities.
It is difficult to consider paying support for your ex spouse above and
beyond what you are already paying in child support (if you have children)
and what is already going to your spouse in the
property settlement. What’s more- what if your spouse didn’t work at all during
your marriage? Even if they were at home caring for the children or otherwise
providing an important service, do they deserve to be paid spousal maintenance for that?
With these considerations in mind, the risk (as I discussed in the initial
blog post in this series on spousal maintenance) lays more with the spouse
who is set to receive the spousal support than it is with the spouse who
is to pay the spousal maintenance. If your spouse agrees to pay you spousal
maintenance your right to enforce a
violation of that agreement is not always going to be upheld by a judge given that
you must also meet the fairly rigid criteria the State of Texas lays out
for spousal support recipients. Failure to meet these requirements over
and above the agreement entered into with your spouse may put you in an
indefensible position in terms of your ability to collect future, agreed
upon spousal maintenance payments.
Have complete information available to you before requesting spousal maintenance
In order to increase your bargaining position in terms of requesting spousal
maintenance it is essential to be aware of exactly where the family finances
are in terms of
assets,
liabilities and bills. It is not uncommon for the spouse who is requesting spousal
maintenance to also be the spouse who does not know anything about the
household finances. Make sure your attorney gets a copy of your spouse’s
inventory and appraisement ahead of either your
temporary orders hearing or final
trial. This way you will know what your spouse does as far as what the household
is capable of paying and also what the obligations of the household are.
This other benefit to knowing what the current financial status of your
family is that you are able to ask for amounts for child support and division
of the community estate that are actually in line with reality, not just
your assumptions of what you believe to be the case.
Family Law attorneys for Southeast Texas families: The Law Office of Bryan Fagan
Thank you for the opportunity to share this information with you regarding
spousal maintenance in Texas divorces. If you have any questions for our
attorneys please do not hesitate to contact the
Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed
family law attorneys stand ready to answer your questions in a comfortable, stress
free environment.
Consultations are always free and are available six days per week.
Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.
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