In an Illinois divorce, the court may award long-term maintenance, or alimony, to either spouse based on a number of factors. Long-term alimony is generally appropriate when one spouse is unable to earn an independent living. Depending on the case, spousal maintenance may last for a set number of years or continue indefinitely until either party dies or the recipient remarries.

Defining Alimony for Tax Purposes

As a general rule, the Internal Revenue Service considers alimony to be a form of taxable income. This means the receiving spouse must report all maintenance payments for the year on his or her federal income tax return (usually Form 1040) as part of his or her gross income. Conversely, the spouse who pays alimony can deduct it from his or her own gross income.

If you are considering a divorce or are already going through divorce proceedings, you may be curious as to how spousal support, sometimes called maintenance or alimony, is determined by the court. There are several factors that are considered when spousal support is established, but no single factor is determinative. Rather, the court looks at the whole picture when deciding whether spousal support is appropriate, and if so, to what degree.

Your divorce attorney in Wheaton who handles spousal support requests and modifications can help you as you consider what type of support, if any, you believe your spouse should provide, given the specific circumstances.

What Factors Do the Courts Consider When Deciding Spousal Support in Illinois?

In Illinois, courts may order one spouse to pay spousal support to the other at the conclusion of a divorce. Whether the court awards spousal support depends on several factors, including the length of the marriage, the needs of the parties, present and future income, and the standard of living that the couple had while married.

For obvious reasons, many former spouses dislike making this monthly payment to their ex. The common thinking that is that they will not have to make this payment once their ex remarries. There are many anecdotal stories out there about former spouses delaying or avoiding second marriages to continue to collect spousal support. However, Illinois law disfavors these tactics. Under state law, spousal support terminates when the former spouse receiving it begins cohabitating with another person. A new marriage is not required to end these payments

What Is Cohabitation Under Illinois Law?

When you are going through a divorce, you are faced with a host of financial issues. Often, spousal support can be a big question - will the court require one spouse to provide the other with ongoing financial assistance once their divorce is final? Until recently, it was up to the judge to make this decision on a case-by-case basis, after considering a variety of factors set out in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. In an effort to make spousal support awards more consistent, however, the Illinois legislature updated the law, establishing a specific mathematical formula for calculating the amount and duration of a spousal maintenance award.

Will Courts Always Use This Formula Now?

Do these new guidelines simplify the process? Do they actually reduce an attorney’s role to plugging numbers into a calculator? Likely not. First off, the formula only applies after the court determines that spousal maintenance is appropriate at all. In addition, your case must meet the following two conditions:

Alimony, also known as spousal support, is one of the more contentious issues in many divorces. Many spouses who are being supported feel that they are owed for their contributions to the marriage, while many supporting spouses do not relish the idea of having to continue to support someone they are no longer married to. While recent changes to divorce law in Illinois will make awarding alimony a more streamlined process, it can still be beneficial to understand the different types of alimony and the theories behind them. Spousal support can be broken down into two groups based on whether it is expected to be a temporary arrangement or a permanent one.

Time-Limited Alimony

Time-limited alimony is one that the court does not expect the supporting spouse to pay out forever. For instance, courts often award a temporary alimony during the divorce process. Divorces may take some time to finalize in court, so the court wants to ensure that both the spouses have the ability to meet expenses during the process. This type of alimony will eventually be replaced once the divorce is finalized.