Hi,
Hopefully, a few of you can provide your thoughts or experiences with some questions related to question I have regarding spousal support. This is the stuff that keeps me up at night. I want to plan my life and retirement but a ruling with no fixed spousal support term makes that hard to do. The family law system in this area is poorly designed and only works for lawyers and the ones receiving the support.
My X is receiving spousal support and has not at all started looking for work after 5 years. She has no incentive to work as she making a good income off me with no end in sight. There is no process setup to aid, monitor and enforce that she is looking for work to become self-sufficient.
Here are the facts before I start asking questions:
- Married 16 years (includes 1 year living together)
- Separated in 2007 and divorced in 2010.
- In 2007 my ex was 49.
- One child who is 17 now and in grade 12 (2012) and will be going to university next year.
- Spouse has a university education and did not work during the marriage (one of the marriage issues)
- My income in 2009 was ~$150K and was used to set SS amounts
- Spousal support was set at $3.2k with imputing income of $18k / year to my spouse ($39k)
- Child support is now $1.4k
- Current income is ~160k
- Support together is $4.6k / month which about half of my take home income ($51k)
- The Separation Agreement has a cause that states “Spousal support shall be reviewable not before January 2012 and again not before June of 2015.The court will, at the time, review both party’s financial situation and X’s attempts and success at becoming financially independent”
- The Separation Agreement has a cause that states my retirement is a material change in circumstances.
- Agreement also has a clause that if my son goes away to school then child support will be nil while he is away but I am to share post secondary expenses proportional to incomes.
Questions:
1 - Should I have the first spousal support review now? (Late 2012).
I think my spouse needs to be pushed to start becoming self sufficient but reviewing the process we are looking at 10s of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees on both sides (screwed up process that only works for lawyers and is no something someone represent yourself). Should I instead wait another year or more with a more material change being my son has gone to university or what should trigger the review?
2 - Can the X receive spousal support if I’m retired?
My pension was included in the equalization and she has released interest on it. How can she get spousal support when I retired as that is double dipping since it was already accounted for in the equalization?
3 - Is there another way to ensure my X is looking for work and having it enforced so she is motivated to do so besides the expense and drama of a review in front of a judge?
Hopefully, a few of you can provide your thoughts or experiences with some questions related to question I have regarding spousal support. This is the stuff that keeps me up at night. I want to plan my life and retirement but a ruling with no fixed spousal support term makes that hard to do. The family law system in this area is poorly designed and only works for lawyers and the ones receiving the support.
My X is receiving spousal support and has not at all started looking for work after 5 years. She has no incentive to work as she making a good income off me with no end in sight. There is no process setup to aid, monitor and enforce that she is looking for work to become self-sufficient.
Here are the facts before I start asking questions:
- Married 16 years (includes 1 year living together)
- Separated in 2007 and divorced in 2010.
- In 2007 my ex was 49.
- One child who is 17 now and in grade 12 (2012) and will be going to university next year.
- Spouse has a university education and did not work during the marriage (one of the marriage issues)
- My income in 2009 was ~$150K and was used to set SS amounts
- Spousal support was set at $3.2k with imputing income of $18k / year to my spouse ($39k)
- Child support is now $1.4k
- Current income is ~160k
- Support together is $4.6k / month which about half of my take home income ($51k)
- The Separation Agreement has a cause that states “Spousal support shall be reviewable not before January 2012 and again not before June of 2015.The court will, at the time, review both party’s financial situation and X’s attempts and success at becoming financially independent”
- The Separation Agreement has a cause that states my retirement is a material change in circumstances.
- Agreement also has a clause that if my son goes away to school then child support will be nil while he is away but I am to share post secondary expenses proportional to incomes.
Questions:
1 - Should I have the first spousal support review now? (Late 2012).
I think my spouse needs to be pushed to start becoming self sufficient but reviewing the process we are looking at 10s of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees on both sides (screwed up process that only works for lawyers and is no something someone represent yourself). Should I instead wait another year or more with a more material change being my son has gone to university or what should trigger the review?
2 - Can the X receive spousal support if I’m retired?
My pension was included in the equalization and she has released interest on it. How can she get spousal support when I retired as that is double dipping since it was already accounted for in the equalization?
3 - Is there another way to ensure my X is looking for work and having it enforced so she is motivated to do so besides the expense and drama of a review in front of a judge?
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