Spousal Support in Seattle

Issues involving alimony (also called spousal support), are often some of the most unpleasant aspects of a divorce. Spousal maintenance cases are handled on their individual merit because there are no definitive guidelines for assessing alimony written into Washington family law. For this reason, alimony issues can cause plenty confusion and animosity, because each party may have a wildly different opinion on the subject. Our Seattle spousal maintenance lawyers can help you with spousal support issues, including those that deal with collecting alimony from an ex-spouse.

The Seattle alimony attorneys from the Washington Family Law Group will protect your interests and fight to safeguard the financial stability of you and your kids. Your situation is unique, so our Seattle spousal support attorneys will help you understand how the law applies to your situation, allowing you to make informed decisions regarding alimony, and other support issues.

How much alimony will you receive or be required to pay? Our experienced attorneys offer reliable answers to these questions based on real-world experience and, if you are the recipient, can also inform you when the first payment will likely be made.

Our Seattle spousal support attorneys will focus on building a case that addresses your financial needs. Be prepared to supply our Seattle spousal maintenance lawyers with answers to these important questions before alimony negotiations begin:

• How long were you married?
• What were the financial resources of each spouse?
• What standard of living did you enjoy during your Seattle marriage?

The court will also want to know your age and overall condition of health, so you should be ready to provide documentation that confirms this information to one of our Seattle alimony attorneys.

Our attorneys hear this question a lot, and it's not too difficult to answer in most situations. The duration of alimony payments is usually determined by the length of the marriage. If the marriage lasted25 years or longer, it's likely that the court will make spousal maintenance permanent, since the goal is to ensure that the partner with fewer assets has equal financial footing after a long marriage.

If the marriage was less than 25 years in duration, the courts typically use a “one to three” average to determine the length of the payments. So if the marriage lasted 10 years, the alimony payments would last for 3 to 4 years.

Other factors may cause alimony payments to be terminated before the full term has expired. If the partner receiving alimony is remarried, the payments would stop. If the person paying alimony dies, there are no legal requirements that the estate continue making alimony payments, so they would stop under this scenario.

Obviously, your situation is entirely unique, so you need to speak with one of our Seattle spousal support lawyers about your situation to fully understand the ramifications of a divorce. There is plenty of misleading information about alimony on the internet, television, and the movies, so make sure you understand the law before taking the next step.

A divorce can lead to great deal of uncertainty and emotional upheaval, and the stress may make it difficult to reach wise decisions that will have a huge impact on the rest of your life. Most people want financial security, so it's one of the most important issues that we handle during a divorce. It's important that you discuss your support needs in detail with one of our Seattle alimony attorneys.

Financial independence is important as you enter a new life after a divorce, so don't leave anything to chance. Our Seattle spousal support attorneys will use their extensive experience to help you seek fair and equitable support, but much will depend upon the details.

If you're concerned about the dollar amount of alimony you will be required to pay, or if you are seeking an alimony settlement from an ex-spouse, contact our law office in Seattle today for a free consultation. Without obligation, an experienced lawyer from our office will provide you with information about spousal maintenance, so that you can decide the best way to proceed with your case.

Our spousal support attorneys in Seattle are ready to help you take the first steps toward resolving alimony issues, so start getting answers from a team of litigators who will aggressively fight to protect your interests.