Speaker 1: Are you in the process of getting divorced and you want to learn a little something about spousal support? Check out this short video between me and Divorce Attorney Mark Schoendorf. Hey, Barry here with the Lawful channel. As you know, this is the single best place to get short legal information on the topics that affect your life. If you haven't already, please subscribe to our channel and if you have any questions or comments, reach out to me. If I can't help you, I'll find someone who can. So I'm here in the suburbs today to talk about spousal support with Divorce Attorney Mark Schoendorf. Mark, thanks for getting together today.

Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, Barry.

Speaker 1: So today we're talking about spousal support or alimony. Mark, can you tell us about spousal support, what it is and what's its purpose?

Speaker 2: So spousal support is support payments, money paid by one spouse to the other after a divorce. And the purpose of it is to help maintain the lifestyle that that other spouse had enjoyed during the marriage. So two people are splitting up and the one spouse maybe doesn't make as much money, isn't able to afford a home in the same neighborhood or of the same quality on their own, so they need support payments to help them live their life.

Speaker 1: So do the rules for spousal support apply equally to men and women?

Speaker 2: Absolutely. The law does not discriminate between men and women. And oftentimes I see situations where women have to pay spousal support.

Speaker 1: So does the other spouse always get spousal support or how does that work?

Speaker 2: So spousal support is not guaranteed. It's not automatic. The court is going to look at the situation. In Illinois we have certain factors that we have to look at, which includes each party's current income, each party's potential future income, the amount of perhaps non-marital property that they might have, how much property they're getting in the divorce. So if you have a situation where someone's coming away with a lot of money and just that money is going to be able to provide support, then the other spouse is not going to have to pay. If both parties make a similar income, then there's probably not going to be a spousal support award in that case. So it's not a given.

Speaker 1: So I think what I hear you saying is that things are changing in terms of the dynamic between men and women in the workforce, but is there a classic situation of spousal support that you still see?

Speaker 2: I do. The classic situation we think of spousal support is, you know, young couple gets married when they're young. They don't have any children. They're starting their careers. And typically the wife will stay at home, raise the kids, husband will go to work, advance his career. So now we're 20, 25 years down the line and husband is advancing his career, making a lot of money, and they're divorcing, and so now the wife has to go out into the workforce. But she's never going to make as much money as the husband is ever going to make. And so she might not have the education or training, or even if she does, she simply doesn't have the experience and isn't able to get that job. So in that situation, the husband is going to have to pay spousal support to help maintain her in that lifestyle.

Speaker 1: So does spousal support go on forever? I mean, is it indefinite or how does that work?

Speaker 2: It depends. So I have to mention that, again, divorce is very specific to the state, so please check your state laws. In Illinois, we have essentially a table that looks at how long the marriage is. If the judge decides that spousal support is appropriate at all, then we're going to go by the length of the marriage. And the longer the marriage, the longer the duration becomes. So for example, a five-year marriage, you'd only get 20% of the length of that marriage, so that would be about a year. But once you get into the 15, 16, 18 years, you get to 80 to 90% of the length of the marriage. Once you get to 20 years in Illinois, it can either be 100% of the length of the marriage or indefinite, which means until somebody passes away. So somebody who's married for 20 or 22, 25 years, they may be paying spousal support for 25 years or for life.

Speaker 1: So let's take a hypothetical situation. You get divorced. You enter into a spousal support agreement. Is there anything, if your circumstances change, is that modifiable at all?

Speaker 2: Generally yes. So spousal support payments are modifiable upon a substantial change in circumstances. So what does that mean? If somebody's making a lot more money or a lot less money, that would be a substantial change. Maybe the husband, if he's paying support, if he gets a promotion, gets a new job, makes a lot of money, great. He may lose his job and he may make less money. Either of those reasons would be a cause for somebody to come in to court and try to modify

Speaker 1: that support obligation. Can you avoid that situation?

Speaker 2: You can avoid it. So if you settle your divorce case instead of going through a trial, you have the opportunity or an option to make spousal support non-modifiable and there's not as strong of a public policy in terms of overseeing spousal support like there is in child support. So you can make it non-modifiable and whatever your obligations can be is going to stick.

Speaker 1: And let's just clarify again. So we're talking specifically about law in Illinois. If you're in another state, check with a local divorce attorney or check out the laws in your state. So is there an alternative to paying spousal support over an extended period of time?

Speaker 2: Yes, there is. So a lot of times we can negotiate what's called a maintenance buyout. It'll be one big lump sum payment in the form of cash property to satisfy that spousal support obligation. And that way that spouse can get out of the divorce or get out of the marriage without having to make those monthly payments.

Speaker 1: Okay. So another question for you. Are there certain times when spousal support might end sooner than expected?

Speaker 2: Sure. So spousal support usually goes until one of the parties dies, the person who receives the spousal support or the person paying it. Also spousal support can become unnecessary if the receiving spouse, for example, if they get a job, they're making more money, they're able to support themselves, we might not need spousal support anymore. The third and probably most contentious time is if the receiving spouse starts cohabitating on a continual conjugal basis. That's what we have here in Illinois. What it basically means is they're living with their boyfriend or girlfriend. So but it has to be really living with each other. What I tell my clients, they have to get the mail at the same place. It can't be going over to their girlfriend's house four nights, five nights, six nights a week. They really need to be a couple that lives together and supports each other. When that happens, then the paying spouse can go to the court and seek to terminate that, at least in Illinois.

Speaker 1: Mark thanks for getting together again today to talk about spousal support. I think this was really informative for our viewers. Now it's time for your take on the law. Are you getting divorced and you're arguing with your significant other about spousal support? Tell us about it in the comments section below. Hey guys, thanks very much for checking out this short video on spousal support. If you haven't already, please click that red button and subscribe to our channel. And if you have any questions or comments, reach out to me. If I can't help you, I'll find someone who can.