Arizona Spousal Support Lawyers

Get the Legal Guidance You Need on Arizona Spousal Support

As a marriage ends, one question many spouses ask is: “How will I support myself?”

In Arizona, spousal support helps a lower-earning or out-of-work spouse have the income they need to start over and become self-sufficient.

However, many divorcing spouses have questions about how this arrangement works, what to expect, if they qualify, and many more.

The spousal support attorneys at Gillespie, Shields, & Taylor are ready to help you understand the rules, what courts look at, what to expect for amount and duration, what can disqualify a request, and how to handle enforcement, taxes, and modifications.

What is Spousal Support in Arizona?

Sometimes after a divorce, one spouse doesn’t have the earning ability or sufficient property to reasonably meet their needs.

In these cases, the courts order the other spouse to provide support payments with the goal of enabling them to become self-sufficient.

These court-ordered payments are commonly called ‘alimony’ or ‘spousal support’. However, it is technically referred to as ‘spousal maintenance’ under Arizona Revised Statute § 25-319.

This Arizona statute lays out important aspects about spousal maintenance, such as who can qualify for it and what factors are used to set the amount and duration.

If you need help determining whether you should pay or receive spousal maintenance, our experienced attorneys can help.

Who is Eligible for Spousal Support in Arizona 

Spousal support is not automatically awarded in Arizona divorces, even if a spouse overwhelmingly qualifies.

Instead, Arizona Revised Statute § 25-319 outlines important aspects of spousal support, including who is eligible to receive it 

To receive spousal support, it must be first demonstrated to a judge that the requesting spouse is eligible for it during the divorce proceedings. This includes at least one of several requirements being met by the receiving spouse. 

These requirements include:

• Lacking sufficient property to meet reasonable needs
• Being unable to be self-sufficient through appropriate employment
• Being the custodian of a child whose condition makes employment unreasonable
• Having contributed to the other spouse’s education/career
• Having a marriage of long duration with age or health issues that limit earning capacity 

If none of these requirements are met, the spouse’s request for spousal maintenance can be denied even before any payment amount is considered.

However, these requirements are not always clear. Knowing this, let our spousal support attorneys help maneuver matters in your favor. We fully understand Arizona laws and know how to use them for your benefit.

Determining Arizona Spousal Support Amounts

Once the Arizona courts find that a spouse is eligible for spousal support, the judge then has to determine the support amount the receiving spouse deserves.

In order to do so, they can refer to Arizona Revised Statute § 25-319, Spousal Maintenance Guidelines, and a public calculator to produce reasonable monetary ranges for both the amount of spousal support.

These laws and guidelines take a look at a wide variety of factors to determine an appropriate spousal support amount, such as:

• Each spouse’s financial resources and needs
• The couple’s standard of living during the marriage
• The length of the marriage
• The age and health of each spouse
• What contributions were made to the other spouse’s career/education
• The ability of the paying spouse to meet both parties’ needs 

But while Arizona has provided statutes, guidelines, and calculators to help produce fair ranges for spousal support  amounts, judges may deviate if there is a significant reason to do so. 

That means there’s no single formula set in stone, even though there are laws and guidelines that give both sides a realistic starting point for negotiation.

Additionally, our attorneys have noted that longer marriages and bigger income gaps generally support higher and longer spousal support awards, with shorter marriages or situations where both spouses can quickly support themselves typically lead to lower awards.

Having our spousal support attorneys on your side can help you present convincing arguments to the courts during divorce proceedings that can significantly influence your outcome.

How Long Arizona Spousal Support Lasts

No matter if you’re paying or receiving spousal support payments, you’ll likely want to know for how long you can expect them to continue.

The answer is revealed in Arizona Revised Statute § 25-319b, which clearly states that spousal maintenance is “only for a period of time and in an amount necessary to enable the receiving spouse to become self-sufficient”. 

That statute also provides a list of factors that should be taken into consideration when determining the length of time spousal support should be paid.

These include:

• The duration of the marriage
• The standard of living established during the marriage
• The age, employment history, earning ability, and physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance
• The ability of the paying spouse to meet their own needs while meeting those of the spouse seeking maintenance
• The financial resources of the spouses, including their earning abilities
• The contribution of the spouse seeking maintenance to the earning ability of the other spouse
• The time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the spouse seeking maintenance to find appropriate employment, and whether such education or training is readily available
• The cost for the spouse seeking maintenance to obtain health insurance
• Damages and judgments from conduct that resulted ina  criminal conviction of either spouse if the other spouse or a child was the victim 

If you need help managing your spousal maintenance arrangements, let our spousal support lawyers help. We can use resources and tools to help determine if support payments are no longer appropriate in your case.

Factors That Reduce or Terminate Spousal Support 

Since the purpose of spousal support in Arizona is to provide monetary assistance to help the spouse transition to self-sufficiency, it should always be viewed as a temporary arrangement with very few exceptions.

However, there are certain factors or actions that can cause these payments to be reduced or even immediately end.

These include:

Significant changes in income or property

If one spouse who receives support has post-divorce assets or income that covers their reasonable needs, the court may end spousal maintenance. 

Short marriage, high employability

In brief marriages where both spouses can support themselves, maintenance may be minimal or even found to be unnecessary altogether.

Agreement for no maintenance

Some divorces include a written agreement that waives spousal maintenance, such as a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement.

Retirement

In some cases, the retirement of the paying spouse can also terminate their obligation to pay spousal support, depending on the specifics of the agreement or the court order.

Death

The death of the paying spouse will immediately end their obligation to pay spousal maintenance in Arizona.

While this is not an exhaustive list, it reveals what changes in a spouse’s life or circumstances can cause an adjustment or end in support. Knowing this, our spousal support attorneys can use sophisticated tools to uncover these changes that affect your spousal support payments.

How Arizona Spousal Support Impacts Taxes 

Since spousal support helps provide financially for a spouse who is now living on their own, it is often a significant sum of money being paid from one party to another.

As a result, many who either pay or receive it need to know how spousal support impacts their taxes. 

According to the IRS, the tax impact from spousal support depends on when the court order was issued.

For spousal support orders executed on or after January 1, 2019:

• Those who pay spousal maintenance cannot deduct it from their taxes
• Those that receive it do not need to pay taxes on it

This replaces what was dictated for spousal support orders executed before 2019, which allowed the payer spouse to deduct maintenance payments and were included in the recipient spouse’s income.

For help understanding what to expect with your spousal support payments, turn to our experienced spousal support lawyers.

How Arizona Spousal Support Payments are Enforced

People depend on spousal support payments after a divorce. As a result, Arizona law takes spousal maintenance payment failure very seriously.

In fact, Arizona Revised Statute § 25-511.01 makes failure to pay spousal support payments a class 1 misdemeanor, which can lead to penalties that may even include jail time. 

As a result, a receiving spouse can file a request with Arizona courts to enforce and ask for interest, fees, or other relief the court allows if a paying spouse stops issuing support payments.

Additionally, courts may also impose sanctions against the non-paying spouse in serious cases of willful non-payment. 

If you’re facing a situation like this or are concerned you may face one in the future, our spousal support attorneys recommend using these simple tips:

• Keep detailed records and bank statements that clearly show when your ex-spouse paid and how much.
• Report address/employer changes to the courts.
• If a payment is missed, act quickly. Letting months pass before raising the issue only makes matters more complicated.

If you need help enforcing spousal support orders or collecting past payments, our spousal support lawyers are ready to utilize the power of the courts on your behalf.

Modifying or Terminating Arizona Spousal Maintenance

As life changes, so do Arizona spousal support arrangements. Many couples might experience a change in income, health issues, or new ways of earning money.

As a result of these changes, a modification to spousal support may be possible by presenting this change to the court. 

This involves demonstrating to the court that a substantial and continuing change in circumstances has taken place in order to have spousal support payments changed or terminated. 

Our spousal support attorneys are ready to help you prepare, file, and present updated evidence of a change in circumstances surrounding your spousal support orders.

Spousal Maintenance Involving High-Asset Individuals and Business Owners

Even though complex finances don’t change the legal standard surrounding spousal support, they do change the amount of work that they require.

This is because spousal support orders from high-asset divorces often involve taking these additional steps:

• Comprehensive financial analysis – High-asset couples often have complex financial portfolios, such as investment income, trusts, deferred compensation, and business ownership. Courts may use financial professionals to analyze these assets to determine each spouse’s true financial position.
• Business valuation – Any business created or enhanced during the marriage is considered marital property and is subject to division. Valuing a business is a complex process often requiring expert analysis, especially to determine the business’s full value, including intangible assets.
• Accurate income determination – Accurately determining income can be difficult, particularly when one spouse is a business owner who can control their salary and discretionary spending. Forensic accountants are often used to uncover undisclosed or understated income and to perform a lifestyle analysis to determine the standard of living during the marriage.
• Imputed income – A court may determine that a business owner’s reported income is not their full earning capacity and can “impute” additional income to fairly calculate spousal support.

As a result, an even lengthier process should be expected due to the complexity of these cases, especially when involving hidden assets or significant business interests. This may lead to a prolonged and costly legal battle.

Because of the high cost and uncertainty of litigation, many high-asset divorces are ultimately settled through negotiation or mediation, with full legal trials reserved as a last resort.

If you’re facing spousal support matters during a high-asset divorce, our experienced lawyers are ready to fight for you to help create an outcome that protects and preserves your assets and interests.

Get Help with Your Arizona Spousal Support Matters 

No spousal support case can take a one-size-fits-all approach; whether it’s handling the unique factors surrounding your marriage, finances, or needs, you need legal help that’s right for your situation.

So if you’re beginning to consider spousal support, want help changing your orders, or need those orders enforced, turn to the spousal support attorneys at Gillespie, Shields, & Taylor.

With our decades of experience handling these complex matters, we’ll use Arizona law to help you get a just, fair spousal support outcome as we provide the guidance you need to get through this challenging moment in life.