Understanding Alimony in Georgia: A Comprehensive Guide

there are many types of alimony in Georgia one type of alimony is temporary alimony temporary alimony can be granted by a judge and it can go on for the duration of the divorce meaning a judge can decide to Grant temporary alimony to one party while the divorce is taking place that typically happens when one party is making way less than the other party the party who is making the most would pay alimony to the party making the least and that can go on for the duration of the divorce a second type of alimony is rehabilitative alimony rehabilitative alimony is alimony that’s determined to be necessary for a party to rehabilitate themselves to go back out into the workforce because they stayed home and took care of children or a sick spouse or the household they lost the skill set or have a diminished skill set when trying to go back into a competitive job market rehabilitative alimony would be given from one party to another party to make sure that they’re able to get the skills that they need over a period of time to go back into the workforce a third type of alimony is permanent alimony permanent alimony is rarely given but to be a candidate for permanent alimony the parties have to have at least been married for 10 years a judge would then make a determination about permanent alimony from the facts that’s presented but typically people don’t get permanent alimony unless they’re getting divorced later in life and the possibilities for them in the job market are just way smaller the final type of alimony is periodic alimony what periodic alimony is is alimony for a period of time a judge can decide to give alimony for a period of time to support one spouse periodic alimony payments can be made monthly weekly bi-weekly or as the judge determines periodic alimony typically means the following if you’ve been married to someone for about 10 years judges make determinations of alimony and they can be periodic payments for a period of time however in Georgia most judges look at alimony and make alimony determinations for periodic alimony in the following manner if a party’s been married for three years many times that will equal one year of alimony for most judges it could be two years it could be four it really depends on the factors that are presented to the judge so if you been married for 10 years you may qualify for 3 to four years of alimony that alimony would be periodic alimony meaning it would be payable over a period of time and in a certain manner judges are more likely to give periodic alimony than any other type of alimony because periodic alimony would go for a certain period of time many times judges shy away from giving permanent alimony because of the belief that parties can go back into the workforce in determining alimony it’s important to note that the calculation is as follows it’s the person who is asking for alony their demonstrated need balance against the other person who would be paying alimony their ability to pay meaning if one party makes $50,000 a year and another party makes $100,000 a year there’s about a $50,000 difference in incomes between the parties if the party who has requested Ed alimony shows that they have a demonstrated need of $1,500 a month to be able to live the lifestyle or close to the lifestyle that the marriage afforded them and the other part is making $100,000 a year $1,500 would be a reasonable request to ask for for a period of time so what would happen is that the court would look at the income and the lifestyles of the parties and then make a determination as to what one party could pay while still living their own life to the other party so they can live a life close to what the marriage provided here’s what’s really important it’s really important when having alimony discussions or having a case involving alimony that you make sure that you understand the alimony and ask for the correct type of alimony if you’re going to be paying alimony you want to make sure that you have alimony payments for a a period of time you do not want to have indefinite alimony payments because indefinite alimony payments are much harder to modify if you’re going to have to pay alimony make sure that you have Provisions in the alimony agreement that protect you one such thing is a time period on the alimony another thing is to make sure that the alimony has conditions that if they’re met by your ex spouse disqualify them from receiving Al one such thing is if they get remarried if the parties get remarried an ex spouse gets remarried the ex spouse should not be qualified to receive alimony because they’re married to someone else that’s just one example of something you should think about when considering alimony and an alimony request in a divorce case if you have a case involving alimony don’t hesitate to give us a call alimony is something that’s very important to consider when divorcing and we can help you