Spousal Support

Lawyers serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex

The Shapiro Law Firm represents clients throughout Collin and Denton counties, helping them but settle child custody and related issues such as visitation rights and child support.

Child Custody in Texas

Spousal support, also referred to as alimony or maintenance, is paid by one spouse to another when a couple divorces or annuls a marriage. It is based on one spouse’'s financial need and the other’s ability to pay. Whether temporary or permanent, spousal support aims to cover the spouse’s minimum needs until he or she can become self-supportive.

Necessary Conditions for Spousal Support

In Texas, as long as the spouse requesting spousal maintenance meets one of the following conditions, spousal maintenance is usually granted.

The spouse who will pay support was convicted of a family-violence offense within two years of the date of filing for divorce or during the pendency of the divorce suit.

The couple was married for 10 years or longer, and the spouse seeking support lacks sufficient property for minimal needs and:

• Clearly lacks earning ability in the labor market adequate to provide support for minimal reasonable needs.
• Is unable to be self-supportive through appropriate employment because of an incapacitating physical or mental ability.
• Is the custodian of a child who requires substantial care and personal supervision because a physical or mental disability makes it necessary, taking into consideration the needs of the child, for the spouse to not be employed outside the home.

Factors Determining Spousal Support

A primary consideration when addressing spousal support is whether the spouse providing support is able to meet his or her own needs, provide child support and meet the needs of the spouse seeking support.

Some other considerations of the spouse seeking maintenance are:

• Financial resources: community and separate property; liabilities
• Education and employment skills
• Employment history
• Contribution of the spouse to training the other spouse
• Earning ability
• Emotional and physical health

Factors evaluated regarding both spouses are:

• Actions by either spouse to create excessive or unreasonable expenditures, destruction, concealment or fraudulent disposition of property held in common
• Each spouse’s fiscal resources for medical, retirement, insurance, other benefits and separate property
• Property each spouse brought to the marriage

The above factors as well as other determining factors may be in dispute, which makes the matter of agreeing on the terms and amount paid for spousal support a challenge. Unless an out-of-court settlement is reached, the court will decide spousal support.

Duration of Spousal Support

In Texas, spousal support does not last longer than three years unless the spouse is incapable of self-support because of physical or mental incapacity, in which case spousal support may be indefinite. Spousal support is terminated in the event of death or remarriage.

Amount Paid for Spousal Support

According to the Texas Family Code, spousal support is either 20 percent of the paying spouse’s monthly gross income or $2,500 a month, whichever is less.

Effective Legal Support

At The Shapiro Law Firm, our lawyers assist clients to resolve spousal-support issues through negotiated settlements, mediation, arbitration or courtroom litigation. The duration and amount of support payment are inevitably the greatest concerns and the most pivotal considerations in arriving at equitable resolutions. Legal guidance from family law attorneys with decades of experience allows clients to overcome difficult obstacles encountered. At The Shapiro Law Firm, we provide superior representation tailored to meet our client’s needs. Please contact us online or at 972-423-0033, and we will be glad to arrange a consultation to discuss your spousal-support concerns.