What Is Spousal Support?

Full Video Transcript

When couples divorce, one of the spouses may be entitled to receive spousal support or alimony from the other. Typically, the longer the marriage, the bigger the earning discrepancy between the spouses, the greater the disparity of assets, and the bigger the difference in standard of living for one spouse during the marriage as opposed to after, the more alimony money that might be ordered. However, every case is different. Of course, the couple can simply agree to an alimony arrangement. If the payer spouse doesn’t pay his or her alimony obligations, the recipient spouse can certainly go back to court to force payment. In many cases, though, alimony is only awarded on a temporary basis until the recipient spouse can or should become self-supporting. Every case is different, however, and a court may award alimony in line with your particular circumstances, as opposed to any hard and fast rules of law.