Alimony and Spousal Maintenance Attorney in Everett, Washington

In what situations is spousal maintenance awarded in Washington State?

More In This Category

View Transcript

spousal maintenance is a tool the court

can use in any case to balance the

division of assets debts and financial

outcome there’s a unwritten rule that

parties are entitled to or should get

one year of spousal support for every 3

to 5 years of marriage that information

comes from a judicial desk book that was

published a long long time ago but it

gives us some perspective shorter term

marriages where parties are both working

don’t necessarily use spousal

maintenance as a tool because you both

can support yourselves longerterm

marriages where everybody’s dividing up

the assets pretty equally because we’re

at the end of our careers or there’s

financial resources you know investment

accounts or real estate they can use

spousal maintenance just to bridge the

gaps but there’s really no particular

rule other than do you need it and does

the other side have the ability to pay

there’s a whole list of other factors in

the law almost all of which are boring

on a video so I think if you just think

of it as a tool where it gets you from

the beginning of the divorce to the end

of the outcome that’s probably the best

way to think about it

Email This Lawyer

(425) 252-5167

See All This Lawyer's Videos

Visit Lawyer's Website

Everett, WA family law attorney Sabrina Layman talks about the situations in which spousal maintenance is awarded in Washington State.