Simple Divorce Papers

Spousal support often raises a big question mark for many individuals contemplating a divorce. Unlike child support, where the monetary amount can easily be looked up on a chart as a simple function of income and number of children, spousal support cannot be predicted with such accuracy.

The only guarantee to you as a spouse seeking such support is that if your spouse’s financial means are greater than yours, he or she will often be obligated to provide some amount of spousal support. There is an exception, however, whereby in some Ontario divorce cases, a spouse can argue under a provision in the Ontario Family Law Act that no spousal support should be paid on the basis of faulty behavior on the part of the support-requesting spouse during the marriage.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding spousal support, there are a number of known factors which are often considered by the courts when assessing spousal support. Age of the lesser-earning spouse is by far the most important.

For a spouse who has been out of the workforce for an extended period of time and whose age is approaching the 50′s, the court recognizes it as being unrealistic to expect her or him to become self-sufficient within a short period of time. The amounts of spousal support awarded in cases of this nature are typically not only high relative to the support-paying spouse’s income, but are also likely to continue for longer periods of time.

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For a wife or spouse of younger age, the courts expect the spouse to be able to return to the workforce eventually and become self-sufficient. It is also common for the courts to order a spouse to pay any costs associated with possible retraining of the other spouse to facilitate his or her effort to become self-sufficient.

Another factor of importance in consideration of the amount of spousal support is whether the post-separation assets received by the lesser-earning spouse are sufficient for him or her to maintain their pre-divorce usual standard of living, without any further financial contributions. If after property division, a spouse is left with a large sum of funds that could, for instance, be used as capital for an income-generating investment, the court is likely to expect the spouse to wisely manage the funds received and invest them and is likely to rule against any further awarding of spousal support.

It is important to appreciate that the court in assessing the amount of spousal support appropriate is not interested in dividing the post-divorce income equally. The court’s objective is to ensure that the lesser-earning spouse continues to maintain the same standard of living after the divorce as that he or she has maintained during the marriage, or as close as reasonably possible.

“For a fast, low-cost, lawyer-free legal divorce visit www.DivorceOnline.ca.”