Alimony disputes can have massive financial implications for all parties involved. That’s why, regardless of which side of the dispute you find yourself on, you need to know the law and diligently craft the legal arguments that support your position. Although you might be able to negotiate a resolution to this dispute, you should always be prepared to litigate it.
Why is the marital standard of living important?
There are a lot of factors that come into play when a decision is made as to whether alimony is appropriate and, if so, how much those alimony payments should be. Amongst those considerations is the marital standard of living. In an ideal world, the court would issue a spousal support order that would allow both individuals to enjoy the same standard of living that they had during the course of marriage, but that isn’t always possible. Therefore, the court oftentimes uses the marital standard of living as a starting point for alimony calculation purposes.
What are the nuts and bolts of calculating the marital standard of living?
Calculating the marital standard of living isn’t an easy task. After all, there are a lot of aspects of your married life that contribute to your standard of living. While your home certainly has a role to play, so, too, does the vehicles that you and your spouse drive, the frequency and types of vacations that you take, the frequency with which you dine out, and everything else that makes your life what it is.
However, it’s important to realize that a court will only consider your true standard of living, meaning that it’s not going take into consideration aspects of your life that were funded by debt. The court views debt-driven lifestyles to be artificially inflated, and therefore undeserving of consideration in spousal support matters.
Do you know what it takes to protect your interests?
There’s a lot at stake in your divorce. As such, you can’t afford to leave anything to chance. Therefore, if you want to protect your interests as fully as possible, then you might want to work closely with a skilled legal advocate who knows how to build persuasive arguments pertaining to alimony disputes. If you’d like to learn more about what our firm has to offer in that regard, then please continue to browse our website.