Our courts must consider all relevant factors when determining the entitlement, amount, and duration of final support.
Factors to consider include the parties’ incomes, means, earning capacity, assets (and their liquidity), financial obligations, child custody, health and age, the duration of the marriage, and the tax consequences to the parties.1 These factors should be considered by the court whenever it makes or modifies a final spousal support award. The principal factor is the parties’ relative financial positions. Final periodic support has been compared to a “pension,” and courts have traditionally applied it conservatively to cover only the basic “necessities of life.”2
There is a trend in our courts to award “rehabilitative support” that terminates after a specific period. The revision comments to Article 112 explains that the word “duration” in the article “permits the court to accord rehabilitative support and forms of support that terminate after a set period of time.”3 Hence, factors such as length of the marriage, education, ability to work, and health are important considerations.
Final spousal support cannot be set for an amount of more than one-third the net income of the obligor spouse.4 However, if the claiming spouse or child of the parties is a victim of domestic violence at the hands of the payor spouse, the court may award an amount greater than one-third of the payor’s net income.5