A Brief Guide to the Texas Alimony Calculator
What is a Texas alimony calculator?
Texas has very strict alimony laws. Not only do they limit the instances in which a person can file for alimony—when an act of domestic violence occurred within two years of a divorce and when a marriage of ten years or more ends with one partner clearly unable to work—but they also limit the amount of alimony that may be given in those few circumstances when it is allowed. A Texas alimony calculator is used to help judges to estimate that maximum alimony amount.
How does a Texas alimony calculator work?
The Texas alimony calculator works to set a cap on all alimony payments. Thus, no alimony payment is allowed to be greater than the lesser of the follow options:
• 20% of the payor’s Gross Monthly Income, OR
• $5,000 per month.
Therefore, a Texas alimony calculator would say that, for an individual making $8,000 per month, an alimony payment may not exceed $1,600. For an individual making $30,000 per month or $360,000 per year, an alimony order may not exceed $5,000.
Is there a Texas alimony calculator for duration?
Another type of Texas alimony calculator stipulates over how long a period of time an alimony order may be paid. Just find which statement is true to your situation:
• The marriage lasted less than 10 years but included an act of family violence, thus making alimony a possibility: alimony can last 5 years.
• The marriage lasted longer than 10 years but less than 20 years: alimony can last 5 years.
• The marriage lasted longer than 20 years but less than 30 years: alimony can last 7 years.
• The marriage lasted longer than 30 years: alimony can last 10 years.
There are two exception to this Texas alimony calculator. If one spouse has a physical or mental disability, the alimony award may last for the term of their disability. Alternatively, if the recipient spouse cohabits with another person on a conjugal basis, then the alimony award may be canceled much earlier.
Do other factors affect the Texas alimony calculator?
Though the Texas alimony calculator’s stipulations regarding maximum payments are based solely on income levels, the law asks judges to consider many other facts when crafting alimony orders. Here are a few:
• The ability of each spouse to provide independently for their own needs.
• The length of the marriage.
• The ability of the spouse providing alimony to provide for their own needs, especially in regards to other court-ordered payments.
• Whether one spouse contributed to the other’s education and thus their earning power.
• If the marriage ended because of marital misconduct such as adultery.
• Whether domestic violence occurred.
• If one spouse made significant domestic contributions as a homemaker.
• What property and investments were brought to the marriage by each party.
• Whether one spouse committed misconduct in regards to notifying the court of their own property.
