An Overview Of Rehabilitative Alimony

Law Blog

Many people don't know that there are various forms of alimony or spousal support. There are rehabilitative alimony, permanent alimony, temporary alimony, and reimbursement alimony, among others. Below is an overview of one of the important type of alimony rehabilitative alimony.

What It Means

Rehabilitative alimony is money you receive to help you establish yourself financially so that you can take care of yourself in the future. As such, rehabilitative alimony is temporary; you only get the payments for a predetermined period that the court has determined should be enough to help you improve your economic status to a sustainable level.

Uses of Rehabilitative Alimony

You can use rehabilitative alimony for anything that can earn you money and enable you to be self-reliant. Here are a couple of common uses of rehabilitative alimony.  

Further Education

Say you dropped out of college to take care of your family or you married after high school. You can use rehabilitative alimony money to get your degree and (hopefully) get or start a job that can sustain you.

Business or Investment

You can also use the payments to start a business, especially if you have some business experience. Say you used to work in your family's business before marriage. You can use the money to start a business—for instance, a franchise—so that you don't have to rely on your partner in the future.

Who Gets It

Not everyone gets rehabilitative alimony when their marriage breaks down. The circumstances of your marriage determine whether you can receive the payments. For example, you are likely to receive rehabilitative alimony if:

  • You were married for a long time
  • Your income relative to your spouse's income
  • Your ability to gain financial independence

For example, a person with severe disabilities may find it relatively more difficult to go back to school or start a viable business as compared to a healthy person. Thus, a healthy person is more likely to benefit from and receive rehabilitative alimony than a person with disabilities.

Determining Factors

Just like other forms of alimony, rehabilitative alimony payments vary. Some of the determining factors include:

  • Your partner's income versus your income
  • The nature of the economic activity you are in or plan to venture into
  • The duration you need to be financially independent

Although the duration for rehabilitative alimony is usually predetermined, you may modify the duration if circumstances change. For example, you may get the court to prolong the payments if you get sick and need a longer period to rehabilitate your finances.

For more information on family law, visit a site such as http://www.tml-law.com.

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19 June 2019

Dealing with Estate Planning When You're Single

Too many single people assume they don't need to plan their estate. My brother fell into this category, and his unexpected passing left our entire family struggling to deal with his home, belongings, and financial accounts. It took nearly three years for the courts to set up a deal because he left no paperwork detailing how he wanted his estate divided. The situation immediately convinced me to work on my own estate, even though I'm still in my early 30's and don't have children or a spouse to worry about. Since it's a little harder to pick beneficiaries and estate managers when you're single, I collected the resources I used for making my own decisions and decided to publish them here on my blog. Use these resources before talking to an estate planning attorney so you're prepared for making hard decisions.