Placeholder canvas
 

Am I Eligible For Spousal Support?

Am I Eligible For Spousal Support?

What is spousal maintenance or Texas alimony?

In Texas, a spouse may be eligible for spousal maintenance, sometimes referred to as court–ordered alimony.  A claim for spousal maintenance is a claim for periodic payments from the future income of one spouse for the support of the other spouse.  Spousal Maintenance in Texas can be different from alimony in another state.  Spousal maintenance in Texas is intended to provide limited support during a period of uncertainty after a divorce.

Am I eligible to receive spousal maintenance or Texas alimony?

To be eligible to receive spousal maintenance, the spouse seeking maintenance must prove that she meets certain statutory requirements.  The first and maybe most obvious requirement to be eligible for spousal maintenance is that you must be a spouse, that is you must be married to the person from whom you are seeking maintenance.   Unmarried people living together are not eligible to receive spousal maintenance.

Next, to be eligible for spousal maintenance must prove one of the following:  that she was either married for ten years or longer or that the person from whom she is seeking support has been convicted or placed on deferred adjudication for an offense involving family violence within the last two years.

If a spouse is seeking spousal maintenance based on the fact that she has been married for at least ten years, then she must also prove that she lacks sufficient property (or will lack sufficient property after the divorce) to meet her minimum reasonable needs and she must show that she cannot support herself because of her own disability, her child’s disability, or her lack of earning capacity.