Phoenix Spousal Support Lawyers

Experienced Spousal Maintenance Attorneys Serving Clients in Phoenix and Maricopa County

As a marriage ends, one of the biggest financial questions is whether one spouse will pay or receive support after the divorce.

The Phoenix spousal support attorneys at Gillespie, Shields & Taylor help clients understand Arizona spousal maintenance law, evaluate whether support may be appropriate, and pursue fair outcomes based on the length of the marriage, each spouse’s income, financial resources, earning ability, and future needs.

Whether you are seeking spousal support, being asked to pay it, trying to modify an existing order, or dealing with enforcement issues, our attorneys can help you understand your options and move forward with a clear legal strategy.

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 Arizona spousal support 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 be 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.

These eligibility requirements are not always simple. Our Phoenix spousal support lawyers can help you evaluate the facts, prepare the necessary evidence, and present your position clearly to the court.

How Spousal Support Amounts Are Determined in Arizona

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 and duration 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, while shorter marriages, or situations where both spouses can quickly support themselves, typically lead to lower awards.

Our Phoenix spousal support attorneys can help you organize financial evidence, develop a clear position, and present arguments that support a fair outcome.

How Long Spousal Support Lasts in Arizona

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 in a criminal conviction of either spouse if the other spouse or a child was the victim 

If you need help evaluating the likely duration of spousal maintenance in your case, our Phoenix spousal support lawyers can review the facts, apply Arizona law, and help you understand what to expect.

Factors That Reduce or Terminate Arizona 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 spousal support 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. Our Phoenix spousal support attorneys can help determine whether changed circumstances may justify reducing, terminating, or defending an existing support order.

How Spousal Support May Affect 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 who receive it generally do not report it as taxable income

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

For help understanding how spousal support may affect your divorce strategy, turn to our experienced Phoenix spousal support attorneys.

Enforcing Spousal Support Orders in Phoenix

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 a spousal support order or collecting unpaid maintenance, our Phoenix spousal support lawyers can help you take the appropriate legal steps.

Modifying or Terminating Spousal Support in Arizona

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 Phoenix spousal support attorneys can help you prepare, file, and present evidence supporting a modification or termination request.

High-Asset and Business Owner Spousal Support Cases in Arizona

Complex finances do not change the legal standard for spousal maintenance, but they can make the case more difficult to evaluate and present.

High-asset spousal support cases may require additional work, including:

• 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.

Because of these issues, high-asset spousal support disputes can take longer to resolve, especially when hidden assets, business interests, or disputed income are involved. 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 spousal support is an issue in a high-asset divorce, our Phoenix spousal support attorneys can help protect your financial interests and pursue a fair result.

Talk to a Phoenix Spousal Support Lawyer About Your Options

No spousal support case should be handled with a one-size-fits-all approach. The right strategy depends on the length of the marriage, each spouse’s income, earning ability, assets, health, standard of living, and future needs.

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

With decades of experience handling complex family law matters, our attorneys can help you use Arizona law strategically and pursue a fair spousal support outcome.

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