When you are preparing to separate from your partner or divorce your spouse, spousal, and partner support may be needed in order to help the recipient move forward financially. The federal government provides spousal support guidelines of which you should be aware, as they can give you a general idea about what you might expect to pay or receive.
The spousal support guidelines take into account the relative incomes of both parties as well as the length of the marriage or common-law interdependent relationship. If you made significant non-monetary contributions to your marriage, but are not employed, you may need the help that such support can provide to you. In some cases, in which a marriage has lasted 20 or more years, spousal support may be permanent until the recipient dies or remarries.
In order to reach a fair spousal support amount, it is important for you to locate all assets and income. In some cases, people will attempt to hide income or assets in a drive to avoid paying spousal support. You may need to use a forensic accountant to locate such hidden streams in order to protect your interests.
At our law firm, we work together with our clients in order to help them receive the spousal or partner support that is fair for them. When one of our client’s spouses is attempting to hide income and assets, we work closely with other professionals to investigate and track down those income sources and hidden assets. We strongly believe that the interests of our clients should be protected and that they should receive the support to which they are entitled. If you have questions about spousal or partner support, you may want to read our spousal maintenance page that contains additional information on this issue.