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| Family law |
|---|
| Entering into marriage |
| Prenuptial agreement · Marriage |
| Common-law marriage |
| Same-sex marriage |
| Legal states similar to marriage |
| Cohabitation · Civil union |
| Domestic partnership |
| Registered partnership |
| Putative marriage |
| Dissolution of marriage |
| Annulment · Divorce · Alimony |
| Issues affecting children |
| Paternity · Legitimacy · Adoption |
| Legal guardian · Ward |
| Emancipation of minors · Foster care |
| Child Protective Services |
| Parental responsibility |
| Contact (including Visitation) |
| Residence in English law |
| Custody · Child support |
| Areas of possible legal concern |
| Spousal abuse · Child abuse |
| Child abduction · Child marriage |
| Adultery · Bigamy · Incest |
| Conflict of Laws Issues |
| Marriage · Nullity · Divorce |
Alimony, maintenance or spousal support is an obligation established by law in many countries that is based on the premise that both spouses have an absolute obligation to support each other during the marriage (or civil union) unless they are legally separated. Family law is an area of the Law that deals with family-related issues and Domestic relations including but not limited to the nature of A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement, commonly abbreviated to prenup or prenupt, is a Contract entered NOTICE TO WOULD-BE ROMEOS ************** Common-law marriage (or Common law marriage) sometimes called de facto marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute Same-sex marriage (also referred to as gay marriage) is a term for a legally or Socially recognized Marriage between two people of the same Cohabitation is when people live together in an emotionally- and/or physically- Intimate relationship. A civil union is a legally recognized union similar to Marriage. A domestic partnership is a legal or Personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by a traditional Registered partnership is one of several terms synonymous with a Civil union or Civil partnership similar to Marriage, typically created in order to provide A putative marriage is an apparently valid Marriage, entered into in Good faith on the part of at least one of the partners but that is legally invalid due to Annulment in the Catholic Church See also Annulment (Catholic Church In the Roman Catholic Church, a marriage is considered to be a valid contract Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. In law Paternity is the legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a man and a child usually based on several factors In Common law, legitimacy is the status of a Child that is born to parents who are legally married to one another or that is born shortly after the Adoption is the act of legally placing a child with a Parent or parents other than those to whom they were born A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty to care for the personal and Property interests of another person called a ward In Law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a Legal guardian. Emancipation of minors is a legal mechanism by which a child is freed from control by their parent(s/guardian(s and the parent(s/guardian(s is/are freed from any and all responsibility Foster care is a system by which a certified stand-in "parent(s" cares for minor Children or young peoples who have been removed from their birth parents Child Protective Services (CPS is the name of a Governmental agency in many states of the United States that responds to reports of Child abuse In the states of the European Union and elsewhere parental responsibility refers to the rights and privileges which underpin the relationship between a In Family law, contact (or in the United States, visitation) is one of the general terms which denotes the level of contact a parent or other significant Residence is a term used to refer to not always similar concepts in various parts of English law including taxation immigration and family law Child custody and '''guardianship''' are Legal terms which are sometimes used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a Parent and his In family law and government policy child support or child maintenance is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by a non-custodial parent Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or spousal abuse) occurs when a family member partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate Child abuse is the physical, psychological or sexual maltreatment of children Child abduction is the abduction or kidnapping of a Child (or Baby) by an older person Child marriage usually refers to two separate social phenomena which are practiced in some societies Adultery is the voluntary Sexual intercourse between a married person and another person who is not his or her Spouse, though in many places it is The term polygamy (a Greek word meaning "the practice of multiple marriage" is used in related ways in Social anthropology, Sociobiology, and Incest refers to any sexual activity between closely related persons (often within the immediate family that is illegal or socially Taboo. Conflict of laws (or private international law) is that branch of International law and intranational interstate law that regulates all Lawsuits involving In Conflict of laws, the issue of Marriage has assumed increasing public policy significance in a world of increasing multi-ethnic multi-cultural Community In Conflict of Laws, the issue of nullity (known as Annulment in the United States) in Family Law inspires a wide response among the laws In modern Society, the role of marriage and its termination through Divorce have become political issues Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society NOTICE TO WOULD-BE ROMEOS ************** A civil union is a legally recognized union similar to Marriage. Legal separation (sometimes "separate maintenance" " divorce a mensa et thoro," or "divorce from bed-and-board" is a possible step towards In some instances, the obligation to support may continue after separation. sEParation is an EP by Destroy Babylon, released on May 4th 2007
Historically, alimony arose as a result of the indissoluble nature of marriage. Because divorce was rare, husband and wife remained married after their physical separation and the husband's obligation to support his wife continued. With the growing view that men and women should be treated equally, the law recognized that both husbands and wives owed each other a similar duty of support. Accordingly, courts now may order either the husband or wife to pay alimony. In practice it is more often the husband that is required to pay.
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How alimony is granted
Once dissolution proceedings commence, either party may seek interim or pendente lite support during the course of the litigation. In law dissolution has multiple meanings Dissolution is the last stage of Liquidation, the process by which a Company (or part of a company is brought to an Pendente lite is a Latin term meaning "while the litigation is pending" which is used for Court orders or legal Agreements entered into In law a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a Court in which the party commencing the action the Plaintiff, seeks a legal or equitable remedy
Where a divorce or dissolution of marriage (civil union) is granted, either party may ask for post-marital alimony. Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. A civil union is a legally recognized union similar to Marriage. It is not an absolute right, but may be granted, the amount and terms varying with the circumstances. If one party is already receiving support at the time of the divorce, the previous order is not automatically continued (although this can be requested), as the arguments for support during and after the marriage can be different.
Unless the parties agree on the terms of their divorce in a binding written instrument, the court will make a fair determination based on the legal argument and the testimony submitted by both parties. Legal instrument is a legal Term of art that is used for any written legal document such as a Certificate, a Deed, a will "Testify" redirects here For other uses see Testify (disambiguation and Testimony (disambiguation. This can be modified at any future date based on a change of circumstances by either party on proper notice to the other party and application to the court. The courts are generally reluctant to modify an existing agreement unless the reasons are compelling. In some jurisdictions the court always has jurisdiction to grant maintenance should one of the former spouses become a public charge.
Alimony and child support compared
Alimony is not child support, which is another ongoing financial obligation often established in divorce. In family law and government policy child support or child maintenance is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by a non-custodial parent Child support is where one parent is required to contribute to the support of his or her children through the agency of the child's other parent or guardian.
Alimony is treated very differently from child support in the United States with respect to taxation. Alimony is treated as income to the receiving spouse, and deducted from the income of the paying spouse. Income, refers to consumption opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame which is generally expressed in monetary terms Child support is not a payment that affects U. In family law and government policy child support or child maintenance is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by a non-custodial parent S. taxes as it is viewed as a payment that a parent is making for the support of their own offspring.
If a party fails to pay alimony, there are not generally any special legal options available to the party that is owed money. In many jurisdictions, people whose child support obligations go into arrears can have licenses seized, in a few states they can even be imprisoned. Someone trying to recover back alimony can sometimes only use the collection procedures that are available to all other creditors (for example, (s)he could report the back alimony to a collection agency). A collection agency is a business that pursues payments on Debts owed by individuals or businesses In some states, if someone is unable to pay all of their alimony, they will be found in contempt of court and placed in jail. Contempt of court is a court ruling which in the context of a court trial or hearing deems an individual as having been disrespectful of the court its process and its invested
Factors affecting alimony
Some of the possible factors that bear on the amount and duration of the support are:
- Length of the marriage
- Generally alimony lasts for a term or period, that will be longer if the marriage lasted longer. A marriage of over 10 years is often a candidate for permanent alimony.
- Time separated while still married
- In some U. S. states, separation is a triggering event, recognized as the end of the term of the marriage. Other U. S. states (such as New Jersey) do not recognize separation or legal separation. Legal separation (sometimes "separate maintenance" " divorce a mensa et thoro," or "divorce from bed-and-board" is a possible step towards In a state not recognizing separation, a 2-year marriage followed by an 8-year separation will generally be treated like a 10-year marriage.
- Age of the parties at the time of the divorce
- Generally more youthful spouses are considered to be more able to 'get on' with their lives, and therefore thought to require shorter periods of support.
- Relative income of the parties
- In U. S. states that recognize a 'right' of the spouses to live 'according to the means they have become accustomed', alimony attempts to adjust the incomes of the spouses so that they are able to approximate, as best possible, their prior lifestyle. This tends to equalize strongly post-divorce income, heavily penalizing the higher-earning spouse.
- Future financial prospects of the parties
- A spouse who is going to realize significant income in the future is likely to have to pay higher alimony than one who is not.
- Health of the parties
- Poor health goes towards need, and potentially an inability to support for oneself. The courts do not want to leave one party indigent.
- Fault in marital breakdown
- In U. S. states where fault is recognized, fault can significantly affect alimony, increasing, reducing or even nullifying it. Many U. S. states are 'no-fault' states, where one does not have to show fault to get divorced. No-fault divorce is a Divorce in which the dissolution of a marriage requires neither a showing of wrong-doing of either party nor any evidentiary proceedings at all No-fault divorce spares the spouses the acrimony of the 'fault' processes, and closes the eyes of the court to any and all improper spousal behavior.
- A sex change is yet to affect previously granted alimony payments
- Recent cases in Ohio and Florida have resulted in rulings for payments to continue, saying that sex change isn't enough to violate an alimony agreement.
Tax consequences of alimony in the United States
According to Section 71 of the U. S. Internal Revenue Code, alimony must be included in the recipient’s gross income and can be excluded from the payer’s gross income. The Internal Revenue Code (or IRC; more formally the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended) is the main body of domestic statutory Tax law To qualify as alimony the payments must meet the following five conditions:
- The payment is a cash payment
- The payment is received by a “divorce or separation instrument”
- The instrument does not specify that the payments are not for alimony
- The payer and payee are not members of the same household when the payments are made
- There is no liability to make the payments for any period after the death or remarriage of the recipient
These requirements apply whether the parties enter an agreement that is approved in an order of the Court (contractual alimony) or the Court orders alimony after a contested trial (statutory alimony). See, for example, Post-Divorce Alimony in Texas.
A divorce or separation instrument is defined as a decree of divorce or separate maintenance or a written instrument incident to such a decree, a written separation agreement, or a decree requiring a spouse to make payments for the support or maintenance of the other spouse.
Child support must be included in the payer’s gross income and can be excluded from the recipient’s gross income. Child support payments are payments that are allocated to the support of the minor children of the pair. If the amount of the alimony payments would be reduced in the event of the age, death, or marriage of the child, this contingent amount would be considered child support.
Section 215 of the Internal Revenue Code allows the alimony payer to take a tax deduction for any alimony or separate maintenance paid during the year. The payer’s deduction is tied to the recipient’s inclusion of alimony.
Together Sections 71 and 215 act as an income-splitting device. Because of this, collaborative divorce processes such as mediation may allow special tax-saving alimony planning opportunities. Mediation, a form of Alternative dispute resolution (ADR or "appropriate Dispute resolution " aims to assist two (or more disputants in reaching See, for example, Mediation's Power in Alimony Cases.
See also
In family law and government policy child support or child maintenance is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by a non-custodial parentDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic