Alimony and Spousal Maintenance Attorney in Dallas, Texas

Alimony vs Support in Texas

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Yes, there’s differences between alimony and support under Texas law. First of all, up until maybe the last 15 years, Texas didn’t have any alimony laws so the courts presumed and the legislature presumed that he spouse’s share of the community property would be sufficient to take care of them post divorcee. However, as time passed the legislatures decided that we did need some alimony statute it’s called Spousal Maintenance in Title 8 of the Family Code. And it depends on the length of marriage so if a marriage has been at least 10 years or more then a spouse might be entitled spousal maintenance. Also, if there’s been any family violence of if there’s disability involved. The support word is usually considered to be for temporary spousal support and that’s for when we’ve got a separation and one spouse doesn’t have sufficient income to be able to provide for their minimum reasonable needs. And so we often do for a short period of time at least award that spouse some temporary spousal support either by agreement or by determination by the court.

Dallas, TX family law attorney, Paula Lock Smyth talks about the main difference between alimony and support under Texas law.

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