A Short Introduction to the Louisiana Alimony Calculator
What is a Louisiana alimony calculator?
An alimony calculator uses a set formula to estimate what alimony payments will be given such variables as the marriage’s length and each spouse’s income. However, only a few states have guidelines strict enough so that a formula is possible. Louisiana, like most states, gives total freedom to judges to create an equitable alimony schedule, making an alimony calculator for Louisiana unhelpful.
However, there is some hope for helping you to estimate spousal support orders. Enough information is available about Louisiana law to understand what factors will affect a judge’s decision, and common sense can go the rest of the way toward simulating the effects of an alimony calculator for Louisiana.
Can a Louisiana alimony calculator estimate an alimony request?
Though they’re of little use in estimating what an actual alimony order will be, an alimony calculator for Louisiana may be of use in predicting the amount of money one party’s attorneys will request in spousal support.
Just follow this simple formula to simulate an alimony calculator for Louisiana with this specific use:
1. Estimate, based on past tax returns, what the cost has been to maintain the standard of living the couple maintained during their marriage. If the couple has been separated for more than a year, go back to the most recent period in which they cohabited. If children live with the couple or other dependents, then deduct the estimated cost for the dependents. The result is the joint married standard of living.
2. Divide the joint married standard of living by two. This gives you the individual married standard of living, which both spouses should like to maintain.
3. Find the difference between the individual married standard of living and the income of each spouse. For the spouse whose income is smaller than the individual married standard of living, the alimony requested will be approximately the difference between their income and this standard of living.
When is a Louisiana alimony calculator necessary?
Louisiana Civics Code is explicit about the situations in which a spouse is entitled to alimony. You should only look into a Louisiana alimony calculator if one spouse fits one of the following criteria:
• One party is incapable of supporting themselves because of mental and physical disabilities.
• One party is incapable of supporting their own household because they have custodial guardianship of a minor child or another individual with a mental of physical disability.
• One party lacks sufficient property to provide for their own wellbeing even when the property allotted to them in the Marriage Settlement is considered.
Which factors does a Louisiana alimony calculator consider?
Louisiana code allows for judges to take into account several different elements for using their own Louisiana alimony calculator. Those factors include:
• the length of the marriage,
• the cause of the marriage’s end (i.e. fault),
• the relative incomes of both spouses,
• the education of both spouses,
• the employability of both spouses, and
• the likelihood of increased employability for one spouse given additional education.
