Q: If my spouse’s income is double what I make, would I still be required to pay alimony after 13 years of marriage?
We have 2 children, 11 and 13. Substantial amounts of credit card debt.
A:
I am assuming that there is no prenuptial or marital agreement in place in answering your question. If there is an executed agreement that address is alimony than that agreement is controlling.
The first step in determining if alimony will be awarded is seeing if one spouse is the supporting spouse. A spouse is a supporting spouse if they make enough money to pay their own reasonable living expenses, plus child support if that's applicable, and still have enough money left over to support, i.e. contribute to the living expenses of, the dependent spouse. The other spouse is the dependent spouse if the dependent spouse does not make enough money to pay their own reasonable living expenses in accordance with the lifestyle that was established in the most recent years of the marriage.
If you get past those two questions, in other words there is a dependent spouse and there is a supporting spouse, then there has to be an analysis as to whether there are any defenses to an alimony award. All of the information in this response is very general and a complete answer requires that you speak with a family law attorney in your district who can talk to you about how alimony is dealt with in your local jurisdiction and how the facts of your particular case would be applied.
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