Once the complaint or petition for divorce has been filed and served on the defendant spouse, and once both spouses have file their individual financial statements with the court, an attorney for the representing the interests of the spouse in need of support or alimony from the other spouse may file a motion requesting a preliminary order from the court establishing a temporary alimony payment amount to support the spouse in need of continued martial asset financed support.
Motion for Preliminary Support Order and Hearing
The financial statements of the individual spouses help the court to determine how much income each one typically has each month and what the usual expenses are that the income must be used to cover for each respective spouse. If one spouse clearly has not worked in years and was a homemaker and cared for the marital children then his or her financial statement will make that clear to the court. In that situation the court will usually order the working spouse to continuing supporting the homemaker spouse while that person is in need of support and a specific monthly figure will be decided and ordered to be paid by the working spouse. The court will usually order a spouse to provide temporary support or temporary alimony that is essentially similar in nature to the economic standard of living the homemaker spouse enjoyed during the majority of marital years. If the court find that the spouse requesting temporary support is fully health and fit and able to support themselves then it is likely that no support will be ordered.
Alimony Today
Temporary support orders or requests for temporary alimony are similar in nature to requests for permanent alimony. Today courts rarely order spouses to pay alimony in a divorce action. When it is ordered the alimony is almost always temporary for approximately two to five years or until the spouse is able to become retrained for entry into the work force to earn their own living expenses. Permanent alimony is only granted in severe situations such as where a spouse is unable to work due to advanced age or a severe mental or physical handicap status.
Get Legal Advice
If you or a member of your family is involved in a divorce and needs to access support while the divorce action is pending from the other spouse it would be best to seek the guidance of a divorce lawyer. An attorney can review the financial statements of the spouses involved and draft the necessary motions to request that the court act granting preliminary support orders.
