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Last page edit 12/17/07
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The Impact of Income on a Claim for Alimony
A comparison of your annual income and that of your spouse will be a major consideration in any claim for alimony. Take a moment to make some rough calculations.
Is your income less than your spouse’s income?
If yes – Calculate your income as a percentage of your spouse’s income Divide Col. # 2 plus half of Col. # 4 and then multiply the number by 100 to get the percentage Col. # 3 plus half of Col. # 4
Column #4 - How will joint income be divided? For this Alimony Quiz, just divide it in half when you do your calculation. This assumes that the joint income will be evenly divided.
If no - If the numbers are about equal or your income is higher, you will choose the first selection under Alimony Quiz question #3. In the rough point system that we are using here, you will receive no points for this answer. This does not mean that you could not be eligible for alimony. It is simply one of the factors to be considered. It is, however, an important one since the primary goal of the Maryland alimony law is to rehabilitate the spouse who is more financially dependent. If you are self-supporting, the chances of alimony will be relatively small. One last consideration - If there is an “extremely unfair” difference in your standards of living after the divorce, that may increase your chances to receive indefinite alimony.
Once you finish the alimony quiz, you may have a rough idea whether you might want to pursue a claim for alimony and whether you can do it while representing yourself. If it appears that you may have a claim and you plan to speak to an attorney, gather your records and fill in this checklist that details your income and property. To download a free viewer for the checklist (its in PDF format), visit the Adobe website.
It will take some time to complete the list but it will help your attorney make an assessment more quickly. Why pay an attorney to organize your records? This will save you time and money. The best use of your attorneys time will be to analyze what you have collected and to help fill in any gaps you may have left. You can also use the same process to prepare to negotiate with your spouse. |
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| Source: Maryland Legal Assistance Network (MLAN) |
Last substantive update 5/01 (MLAN/AC/DD) |
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| Is this legal
advice? This site offers legal information, not legal advice. We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information and to clearly explain your options. However we do not provide legal advice - the application of the law to your individual circumstances. For legal advice,
you should consult an attorney. See our section on Finding Legal Help.
About this website. The Maryland State Law Library, a court-related agency of the Maryland Judiciary, sponsors this site. The website was developed (1999-2007) as part of an access to justice initiative by the Maryland Legal Assistance Network (MLAN) in collaboration with a number of legal services providers serving low and moderate income Marylanders. In the absence of file-specific attribution or copyright, the Maryland State Law Library may hold the copyright to parts of this website. You are free to copy the information for your own use or for other non-commercial purposes with the following language “Source: Maryland's People’s Law Library – www.peoples-law.org. © Maryland State Law Library, 2007.” |
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