In Illinois, Resolving Alimony Issues Can Be Difficult
Spousal maintenance, formerly called alimony, can be one of the more difficult issues to resolve by negotiation. While most people accept that they will lose roughly half their assets in divorce, and that they will pay child support according to the statutory guidelines, few willingly volunteer to write monthly checks to their ex-spouse. As a result, many spousal maintenance issues end up being decided by a judge, even when all the other issues have been resolved by agreement.
I'm Susan Butler, a family law attorney serving clients in Peoria and Tazewell counties in Central Illinois. I have handled numerous contested spousal maintenance cases in Illinois. I also have experience negotiating alternatives to spousal maintenance, such as providing an unequal division of marital property to one spouse in lieu of maintenance.
Two Types of Maintenance
There are two primary types of spousal maintenance in Illinois:
- Rehabilitative maintenance, which are payments provided over a defined period of time to a spouse who needs to return to college or receive vocational training, or who needs to work on developing seniority or acquiring better benefits, in order to become fully self-supporting. Rehabilitative maintenance is often "reviewable," meaning that at some point in the future, the parties will need to return to court for a judge to assess the continued appropriateness of the payments.
- Permanent maintenance, which are payments provided to a spouse, without a stated end date, to help pay for living expenses and other reasonable needs, taking into consideration the lifestyle of the couple during their marriage, which that spouse can not afford without assistance.
An award of permanent maintenance is dependant upon a judge's assessment of many factors, such as the length of marriage, the disparity of income and assets of the parties, and the age and health of the parties.
Alimony is taxable to the person receiving it and is tax deductible to the person paying it.
Spousal Maintenance Consultation
To arrange a consultation with attorney Susan Butler or attorney Kelly Giraudo, call 309-938-4204 or complete the contact form on this site.
