What Are the Laws in Illinois Regarding Alimony? 

 Posted on March 03, 2023 in Batavia Divorce Lawyer

When people are divorcing, there are many financial concerns to contend with, including alimony or spousal maintenance. Judges in Illinois must consider whether one spouse merits receiving payments from the other spouse for any period of time during or after a divorce.

Spousal support in Illinois is generally either temporary or long-term. Temporary support may last only through the divorce process while long-term support will last much longer.

Long-term maintenance can also be fixed-term, indefinite, or reviewable. Fixed-term maintenance means a court establishes a date on which support will end, indefinite maintenance means that payments will continue unless an award is modified or terminated, and reviewable maintenance means a court will retain the right to revisit the award and modify it later.

Amount and Duration of Spousal Maintenance

Not every divorce case involves a spousal maintenance order. Spousal maintenance decisions are usually based on a combination of different factors, including the needs of both spouses, the duration of the marriage, each spouse’s income, assets, and debts, the standard of living established during the marriage, the receiving spouse’s current and future earning capacity, constraints on either spouse’s earning capacity, the effect of child custody and placement arrangements on a spouse’s ability to maintain employment, and any other factors that a court finds to be just and equitable.

When the gross annual income of the spouses is less than $500,000, and the paying spouse does not have to pay child support or maintenance for another relationship, a court will calculate maintenance to be 33.3 percent of the paying spouse’s net annual income minus 25 percent of the receiving spouse's net annual income. A final maintenance award cannot be more than 40 percent of the combined net income of the spouses.

Spousal maintenance generally terminates when one spouse dies, a spouse receiving maintenance remarries, or a spouse receiving maintenance begins cohabitating with another person. Spousal maintenance awards can be modified when one spouse has a dramatic change in their employment status, a change in the health of one spouse, or a receiving spouse makes no effort to become self-supporting.

Contact a Kane County Alimony Lawyer

When you are in the process of going through a divorce, you will want to get legal help to ensure that your rights are protected. [[title]] understands how stressful and confusing many aspects of divorce can be to most people, so we take the time to really explain what is happening so you can understand your situation.

Our attorney has nearly four decades of experience and represents clients all over Northern Illinois. Call 630-879-9090 or contact our Batavia, IL alimony attorney to take the first step toward regaining your independence.

Sources:

https://www.ilsdu.com/

https://ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/075000050K507.htm

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/075000050k504.htm