A divorce means major changes for both people involved, and this may prove particularly true if one of you was the primary breadwinner during your marriage. Once your marriage comes to an end, you may have valid concerns about how you may support yourself without your spouse’s help. Conversely, you may have valid concerns about having to turn over a substantial amount of your monthly income to your ex after you part ways.
Regardless of which side of the coin you find yourself on, you should know that the state of Texas typically considers similar factors when making decisions regarding spousal maintenance. More specifically, you should expect the state to consider:
The length of your marriage
While there is no hard-and-fast rule dictating that those in longer marriages are more likely to receive spousal maintenance than those in shorter ones, this is often the way things go. In a long marriage, you or your spouse may have become more accustomed to a particular lifestyle, for starters. Similarly, one of you may have been more likely to make sacrifices for the other during the marriage, which could potentially constitute grounds for maintenance.
Each party’s education and employability
The level of education you and your ex have may also become deciding factors in whether either of you has to pay spousal maintenance. If there is a substantial disparity between the employability of you and your former partner, this may also make a spousal maintenance arrangement more likely.
The presence of marital misconduct
Texas may also consider whether either party in the marriage was adulterous, or whether either party otherwise engaged in marital misconduct, when making decisions regarding spousal maintenance. If there is a history of family violence between you, this may impact final decisions.
While these are some factors that typically come into play when determining spousal maintenance in Texas, this is not an exhaustive list of all areas that may undergo review.