Michigan Spousal Support |
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Michigan divorce and family law mediators and attorneys Henry Gornbein and Alisa Peskin-Shepherd discuss the factors involved in spousal support and alimony settlements.
Henry: What about alimony? Which is now called spousal support. Alisa: Spousal support is statutory there is no formula, we have guidelines, but it is really based on the need s of the spouse and the ability of the other spouse to pay there are 11 factors that we can take into account to argue to the court to take into consideration when determining if there is a need for spousal support and the amount is based on income Henry: Yeah, I often look at it as a continuum, where the longer the marriage, the stronger the argument for spousal support, the higher the income the stronger the marriage, the educational factors, needs life styles these are all looked at, and we as attorneys need to look at and negotiate for our clients because there are guidelines, but as far as I’m concerned they are flawed and they don’t mean much. Alisa: Right, and they are not required, but we use them to gauge where spousal support might fall Henry: And another thing the guidelines don’t take into account is things like health issues and fall factors so there are factors that are important in a divorce that just aren’t looked at and cant be considered because of the guidelines Alisa: Right, because it is just a formula you just plug numbers in.
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