Geneva Alimony Lawyers

Skilled Family Law Attorneys for Spousal Maintenance Issues in Geneva, IL

Making the decision to file for divorce can be difficult, particularly if you have concerns about spousal maintenance. Spousal maintenance in Illinois, which is sometimes known as alimony or spousal support, is governed by the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (750 ILCS 5/504). If you are seeking spousal maintenance or have concerns about how the court will make a decision about support, it is extremely important to have an experienced divorce attorney on your side.

At Serrano Hanson & Hurtado, LLC, we understand that every divorce is complex and requires careful attention. Our dedicated family law attorneys are committed to assisting clients with all aspects of their divorce cases, including all issues surrounding spousal maintenance and support.

Illinois Law and Spousal Maintenance

According to Illinois law, when a couple seeks a divorce or a legal separation, the court may award maintenance to either spouse on a temporary basis while the divorce is ongoing or permanently after the divorce is finalized. In order to determine whether an award of spousal maintenance is appropriate, the court will take into account some of the following factors:

• Income earned by each party and the property they own, including apportioned marital property as well as non-marital property;
• Financial needs of each party;
• Current and future earning capacity of each party;
• Length of time needed for the party seeking maintenance to require the necessary education or training;
• Standard of living that was established during the marriage;
• Total duration of the marriage;
• Age, physical condition, and emotional condition of each party; and
• Contributions of the spouse seeking maintenance to the other spouse's education, training, or career.

The court can take into account other factors in addition to those listed here. In particular, the length of the marriage plays a significant role in determining how long a spouse will pay maintenance. If the marriage lasted five years or less, alimony payments would only last for a fifth of the marriage's length. If the marriage lasted ten years, spousal support would last for almost half that time. And finally, for marriages over the 20-year mark, spousal maintenance might go on for as long as the marriage lasted, if not indefinitely.

If you have questions about how a court will decide whether to award spousal maintenance, you should be sure to speak with a divorce attorney.

Learning More About Spousal Maintenance Guidelines

Spousal maintenance amounts used to be more difficult to predict. Now, however, Illinois law provides guidelines for determining spousal maintenance for couples with a combined gross income of less than $500,000. Once a court determines that maintenance should be awarded, it will be easier for divorcing spouses to calculate the amount of spousal maintenance that will be paid.

Here is how the guidelines determine an amount: spousal maintenance is equal to 33.3 percent of the payor's income, minus 25 percent of the payee's income. In practice, the guidelines work like this:

If a payor spouse has an income of $100,000, and the payee spouse has an income of $40,000, the court would take 33.3 percent of the payor's income ($33,333) and subtract 25 percent of the payee's income ($10,000), which would equal $23,333. However, the law also states that the spousal maintenance the payee receives plus their income cannot be higher than 40 percent of the couple's combined income. In this case, 40 percent of the couple's combined gross income is $56,000. As such, under the guidelines, the spousal maintenance award would be $16,000, which would be the amount paid yearly. This would typically be divided into 12 monthly payments of $1,333.33.

Contact Our Geneva, Illinois Spousal Support Attorneys

Although these guidelines are in place, judges are not absolutely bound by them. If you have questions or concerns about alimony in Illinois, you should contact Serrano Hanson & Hurtado, LLC today at 630-844-8781 to learn more about how we can assist with your case. We serve clients in Geneva, St. Charles, Elburn, and throughout Kane County.