Adding Alimony to Your Post-Divorce Budget in Orlando

Many spouses create post-divorce budgets as they approach the end of their marriages, and this is a smart decision if you want to remain organized and financially responsible for the foreseeable future. If you stand to receive alimony (spousal support), you should add these payments to your budget. A conversation with an experienced alimony attorney in Orlando may help you understand exactly how alimony will affect your financial situation.

Don’t Assume Alimony Will Last Forever

When budgeting for a life of financial independence after divorce, it is very important to aim for a sense of financial sustainability. The last thing you want to do is get used to a certain standard of living, only to have that torn away from you within a few years. It might be tempting to treat alimony as something that will continue forever, but that just isn’t the case in Florida.

First, the Sunshine State recently abolished permanent alimony. This means that at some point, you’ll need to go through life without this financial crutch. Secondly, the duration of your temporary alimony may be much shorter than you realize. Since most divorces occur within the first ten years of marriage, most people do not receive alimony for more than a handful of years. If your marriage lasted less than a couple years, you might not receive any alimony at all.

The goal is to achieve financial independence as soon as possible, ideally without relying too heavily on the crutch of alimony. If you establish this sense of economic security, you will not be shocked when alimony abruptly ends within a few years of the divorce.

Use Your Alimony Wisely

Since most spouses only have a few years to benefit from alimony before it ends, it makes sense to use this money wisely. An obvious choice for many spouses is to invest the money somehow. If you invest your alimony in a certain way, you could receive passive income for the foreseeable future. Examples of passive income include dividends from stocks, rental income, and treasury bills.

Another common choice is to invest in yourself. You might choose to use your alimony to pay for continued education, and your new credentials could improve your earning capacity. Sometimes, the court forces spouses to engage in this type of self-improvement through a process called “rehabilitative alimony.” If you go through rehabilitative alimony, you will effectively have no choice but to engage in career education.

Can an Alimony Attorney in Orlando Help Me? 

If you stand to receive spousal support, you might want to speak with an alimony attorney in Orlando before you start budgeting for the future. The duration and amount of your alimony payments may not yet be clear, and your lawyer can help you make accurate calculations and predictions. Contact Steve Marsee, P.A. today for further guidance on this subject.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.08.html