When spouses divorce after a long marriage, they typically have to adjust to some degree of change in their lifestyle. It simply costs more money to live as a single person than as a couple. With a fair property division agreement and potentially an alimony agreement, they can better adjust to the changes in their finances.
Alimony (known as “spousal maintenance” in New York) is intended to help the spouse with fewer assets and less income to live on their own – at least until they can get the experience, training and/or education they need to be self-supporting. But what if the other spouse has more than enough income and assets to allow their ex to continue in the lifestyle to which they’ve grown accustomed during the marriage?
What does New York law say?
Under New York law, judges can consider the “standard of living of the parties established during the marriage,” along with factors like each spouse’s earning potential, age, health and obligations they may have, like child or elder care.
Spouses who ask a judge for a spousal maintenance order that considers their marital standard of living are often stay-at-home parents or have been out of the full-time workforce for years for other reasons – maybe even to help their spouse establish their career. Assuming they can’t agree on a fair amount of alimony with their spouse, they can make the case to the judge that they have a right to share in the standard of living their spouse’s income has been able to give them since they contributed to their success.
A couple doesn’t need to have been living a lavish lifestyle for the lower-earning spouse to seek to continue the marital standard of living. It could be a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.
Unfortunately, in some cases, a spouse finds out only during divorce that their marital standard of living was “artificial.” It may have been built on a mountain of debt, including second and third mortgages, loans and large credit card balances. That kind of thing should come to light during the financial disclosure process early in the divorce. If that’s the case, it’s important to avoid responsibility for paying off debts that weren’t theirs.
Divorce can bring all kinds of unexpected developments. By getting sound legal guidance as early as possible, a spouse can protect their rights and make the best possible case for the spousal maintenance and other agreements they’re seeking.
