Spousal Maintenance & Alimony Attorney in Conroe

Providing Strong Representation to Clients across Montgomery, Harris, Walker & Grimes Counties

Marriages today are more likely to involve two working spouses than in times past. Yet, even today, one partner in the marriage often makes career sacrifices to provide intangible benefits to the home, such as child rearing. In that context, spousal maintenance (alimony) is compensation for past performance, subsidy for current needs, and an investment in future self-sufficiency. Arriving at a fair award of alimony is one of the divorce court’s most important tasks. To ensure the court gets it right, you want a skilled Conroe spousal maintenance attorney such as Bradford L. Atkinson on your side.

Reasons for an Spousal Maintenance Award

Under Texas law, the family court may order spousal maintenance under three conditions:

• The recipient spouse has an incapacitating mental or physical disability that makes it impossible for him or her to be self-supporting.
• The recipient spouse is the custodial parent of a child of the marriage who requires substantial care and personal supervision, which prevents the recipient spouse from working outside the home.
• The recipient spouse lacks the earning ability to support his or her minimum reasonable needs.

Arriving at a Fair Amount for Texas Spousal Maintenance

The court considers many factors in its attempt to arrive at a fair dollar amount for Spousal Maintenance:

• The duration of the marriage
• The contribution of a spouse as homemaker
• The comparative financial resources of the spouses
• The property brought to the marriage by either spouse
• Marital misconduct of the spouse seeking maintenance
• The recipient spouse’s education and employment skills
• The age, and physical and emotional condition of the recipient spouse
• Conditions necessary for the recipient spouse to improve employability and earning potential
• The financial resources of the recipient spouse, including property and liabilities apportioned in the divorce
• The contribution by one spouse to the training, increased earning power, or education of the other spouse
• Deceptive or wasteful acts by either spouse that have diminished the financial resources available to the couple
• The ability of the paying spouse to meet his or her own needs and provide child support, while also meeting the needs of the recipient spouse

With so many factors at play, it’s imperative to have an experienced alimony attorney in Conroe assembling the data and making the arguments to ensure your case is persuasive.