Alimony and spousal maintenance laws in Arizona do have an impact on regional divorce cases.

An Arizona judge has broad discretion as to whether alimony is appropriate or not and if the duration and amount of the same are viable enough.

It would help if you connected with an alimony attorney who has experience in practicing family law and firm knowledge about spousal maintenance obligations so that you are aptly guided through the process and protected when it is the most important.

The authorized judge decides on alimony requirements based on Section 25-319, the Arizona Revised Statute. There are two parts of the statute:

• Section 25-319(A) deals with factors the court should consider for determining a spouse’s entitlement to alimony.
• The second part, 25-319(B), deals with spousal maintenance laws, which the court considers to understand the duration and amount of spousal maintenance, but only after it has determined a basis for awarding the alimony.

Read More about Section 25-319

Types of Alimonies in Arizona

Alimony is an essential facet of divorce for both the spouses – the one who is giving the maintenance and the one who is receiving the same.

Spousal maintenance has a direct impact on a person’s ability to manage their expenses.

In Arizona, there are three forms of alimony viz. Permanent, Rehabilitative, and Compensatory.

1. Permanent Alimony: Here, the court does not place a date for termination of spousal maintenance. The court can award permanent alimony when there is no expectation that the receiver will support themself ever due to a significant cause, disability, or age.
2. Rehabilitative Alimony: The intent is to offer financial support to a spouse for a duration as necessary for allowing the spouse to receive the education or/and work experience to become self-dependent.
3. Compensatory Alimony: Here, a spouse has to provide money to the other spouse who had contributed to educational opportunities for the one paying the maintenance during their marriage.

Read more about Types of Alimony.

A divorce attorney can combine a claim for compensatory and rehabilitative spousal maintenance if the case has facts supporting the applications.

How is the Entitlement of Alimony decided in Arizona Divorce?

The divorce attorney in Arizona will firstly analyze the spousal maintenance case as to whether the spouse is eligible for alimony in Arizona or not.

The seeking spouse must prove one of the following to get alimony:

1. The spouse lacks adequate property to provide for their needs.
2. The spouse is unable to attain appropriate employment.
3. The spouse had contributed to the education of another spouse in marriage.
4. The spouse has custody of the child at a young age that they cannot expect to work.
5. The spouse had a long duration of marriage to the limit that the spouse is too old to be expected to get employed and become financially independent.

There are appellate cases in Arizona (as to the first factor) indicating that a spouse seeking maintenance must not be mandated to utilize their assets to support themselves. Thus the court must not look at the property a spouse receives per se.

Instead, the investment amount and rate of return the spouse shall receive by investing in those assets to generate a source of income.

The second factor is determined by the spouse’s prior educational or/and professional work experience, the duration the person was out of the industry they had previously worked in, and the probability of getting a job in the same industry.

The divorce attorney and vocational evaluators can ask the spouse about their educational and work history to prove which job the spouse can secure and the monetary compensation received from that job.

Ten things that you will never hear from your Divorce Attorney

Speaking about the third factor, termed as compensatory spousal maintenance, can be justified by analyzing if the spouse who is capable of supporting themself had contributed to the self-sufficiency of the other spouse by providing for education as such that it did increase the income of the other spouse.

As to the last two factors, such alimonies are awarded when the spouses reach their late or mid-fifties and above, when in a long-term marriage, but have little or no skills or work experience to sustain themselves.

Factor Determining the Amount and Duration of Alimony in Arizona Divorce Cases

• Duration of marriage, the standard of living during the marriage.
• Employment history, spouse’s age, earning ability, emotional and physical well-being of the spouse seeking alimony.
• Comparative financial resources. The ability of the spouse to meet the reasonable needs of the other spouse.
• The ability of both spouses after dissolution in contributing to future educational costs of mutual children.
• To what extent have career opportunities decreased for the spouse seeking alimony or the compensatory ability of the other spouse.
• The time needed to attain education or training to become economically stable, marital property for the spouse, abnormal expenditures if any, property held in common or joint tenancy, concealment/destruction/fraudulent disposition of community.
• The cost for the maintenance seeker to get health insurance and a reduction in the price of health insurance for the spouse from whom the alimony is being sought.

Section 25-319(C) permits the spouses to specify if the spousal maintenance awarded must be non-modified as to the duration/amount or both. Section 25-319(D) subjugates that the court can retain jurisdiction through the duration of the spousal maintenance award.

It also enables the court to terminate or modify the alimony award in case of continuing and substantial change in circumstances after the initial entry of the alimony awarded.

Given the above discussion about the types of alimony and the conditions by which the amount/duration of the maintenance is decided or can claim, modified, terminated, and more- Understandably, alimony to be given or received can understand only after having your divorce case reviewed, for which it is best to contact a divorce attorney in Arizona.

The attorney will offer expert advice and take you through the and alimony claims.