A Short Introduction to Mississippi Alimony Calculators
What is a Mississippi alimony calculator?
Mississippi alimony calculators estimate the amount of money an individual might owe for alimony. They are much more common for child support, where fixed guidelines make a mathematical formula easier to derive. In the case of alimony, state laws are much looser, and an accurate alimony calculator for Mississippi is generally impossible. However, you can still simulate the effects of a Mississippi alimony calculator yourself with a little research.
What is an example of a Mississippi alimony calculator?
Even though alimony orders are unpredictable, smart spouses can guess what an alimony calculator might estimate in Mississippi by looking at the formula most lawyers use in asking for alimony. After all, an alimony request is an obvious influence on a judge’s decision.
The formula for an attorney’s alimony estimate works like this:
1. Estimate the couple’s cost of living during a marriage by looking at all their payments during the year (housing, transportation, food, clothing, etc) and deducting any costs that are associated with their children or other dependents. If the couple has spent more than a year separated, look at the costs accrued during their last year of cohabitation.
2. Halve that joint cost of living to get an estimate for the cost of a similar standard of living for an individual.
3. Now compare that individual cost of living to the individual incomes. The difference between the lower income spouse’s income and their marital cost of living will likely be similar to the alimony requested according to this Mississippi alimony calculator.
What factors influence a Mississippi alimony calculator?
The Supreme Court of Mississippi only first announced their factors for determining alimony settlements in 1993, in their ruling in Armstrong vs. Armstrong. Any person hoping to simulate a Mississippi alimony calculator should look at these factors and guess what effect they will have on their settlement. The factors are:
1. The relative incomes of both spouses.
2. The economic needs of both spouses.
3. The earning capacity of both spouses.
4. The debt that has been incurred by both spouses, before, during and after the marriage.
5. The age of both spouses, especially as this affects their employability and retirement benefits.
6. Whether either spouse has wastefully spent the joint marital property or, though mismanagement, degenerated the value of marital property.
7. Whether the spouse who will pay alimony will benefit from doing so because of their lowered tax bracket.
8. The awarding of custodial guardianship for a minor child upon one spouse, especially as this affects a child support order.
9. The length of the marriage, with longer marriages getting more alimony and establishing a longer duration for the payment of alimony.
10. The standard of living as it was established during the marriage, as well as how individual standards of living were established during the divorce proceedings.
11. Marital fault or misconduct causing the dissolution of the marriage.
12. All other factors which need to be considered by the court to make a just and equitable decision.
