The Woodlands Divorce Lawyers | Cypress, Conroe

Spousal Support is often confused with alimony or the Texas form of alimony known as “Spousal Maintenance.”  However, while a case is pending the court can order “Temporary Spousal Support,” which orders a spouse to pay a monthly amount for a period of time while the case is pending.  Normally this amount is determined by calculating the monthly expenses of the requesting spouse and determine how much they need to maintain their current living expenses minus what they presently earn.  That is, Monthly Expenses – Monthly Income of the requesting spouse tends to be the amount ordered in Temporary Support and sometimes only for a few months but no longer than while the case is pending.  Some judges do this as a way to allow both spouses to share in community income earned while case is pending.

Spousal Maintenance is defined under Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code and refers to payments made to an ex spouse post divorce.  Spousal Maintenance is very strict and many spouses don’t qualify for it.  To at least be eligible a spouse must be disabled, a victim of family violence, or have been married for at least 10 years.  If a spouse qualifies they can be eligible for spousal maintenance for a period of time defined under the statute the amount they can receive is capped at the lesser of  $5,000 per month or 20% of their spouse’s net monthly income.

In order to pursue or defend against spousal maintenance claims you have to have an experienced family law | Divorce lawyer that can properly prepare your case to protect your rights.  Contact our experienced Divorce Lawyers in The Woodlands, Spring Texas for a free case evaluation to learn how we can help.

The best practice is to not talk with the kids about anything involving the litigation.  You should already have a general idea before litigation starts who the kids would want to live with, provided they are old enough to make that decision.  How old must they be?  In Texas a child 12 years of age or older can be interviewed by a judge to determine who they want to live with, however, their opinion is not binding on the judge.  In fact, a judge may only put a little bit of stock the opinion of a young teenager, however, it is an option and often times a very useful resource in a custody case when a child is of age.  When the children are under 12, the court does not have to interview them and typically won’t even if a request is made.  Many judges don’t like interviewing children anyways even when they are 12 years of age or older, so it’s best to not even ask for a younger child to be interviewed. In most custody cases, a Child Custody Evaluation is used to help the court determine which parent is the best fit to determine the primary residence of the children.