What Is Spousal Maintenance and Same-Sex Spousal Support?
When a marriage ends for a same-sex or an opposite-sex couple, financial issues often become complicated. Financial support for children or a non-working spouse may be part of the divorce settlement. Financial support provided to an ex-spouse was once commonly called alimony, but is now usually referred to as spousal support or spousal maintenance.
New spousal maintenance guidelines were implemented in 2015 in the state, but many are curious as to how these guidelines will affect same-sex couples who wish to dissolve their marriage. Specifically, people are questioning whether spousal maintenance laws apply equally to opposite-sex married couples and same-sex married couples.
Spousal maintenance, or alimony, refers to payments made by one spouse to the other in certain divorce cases. The amount and duration of support are dependent on a couple’s specific circumstances and are heavily influenced by the payor spouse’s income, the payee spouse’s income, and the length of the marriage.
New Guidelines in Illinois
The new guidelines, which became effective in January 2015, apply to couples with a combined gross income of under $250,000.00. While the guidelines are not mandatory, judges often use them as a starting point for spousal maintenance estimates in Chicago and the surrounding area.
Under the guidelines, annual spousal maintenance should be 33% of the payor spouse’s net income minus 25% of the payee spouse’s net income. However, the total amount of spousal maintenance when added to the payee’s net income cannot exceed 40% of the combined net income of both spouses. For example, if the payor spouse makes $140,000 net income per year, and the payee spouse makes $50,000 net income per year, the maintenance calculation would be as follows:
$140,000 x .33 = $46,200.00 (33% of the payor spouse’s annual gross income)
$50,000 x .25 = $12,500.00 (25% of the payee spouse’s annual gross income)
$46,200.00 – $12,500.00 = $33,700.00 (the total tentative maintenance for the payee spouse). But because $33,700 added to the payee’s net income is $83,700.00 exceeds 40% of the combined net income of both spouses, the maintenance amount would be reduced to $26,000.00 (as 40% of $190,000.00 = $76,000.00).
Duration is tied directly to the length of the marriage. For marriages that last 20 years or more, the court may award permanent spousal maintenance. But how do these guidelines apply to same-sex couples who have recently gotten married?
How These Guidelines Apply to Same-Sex Marriages
Illinois legalized same-sex marriage on February 21, 2014, and individuals in civil unions were given the option to convert their unions to marriages. Under Illinois law, same-sex couples can use their civil union date as their marriage date. Same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples are both governed by the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (750 ILCS 5/).
Therefore, the new spousal maintenance guidelines should apply equally to same-sex married couples and opposite-sex married couples.
Same-sex couples can also file for divorce in Illinois. However, despite living together in domestic partnerships for years or even decades, same-sex couples will have the spousal maintenance formulas applied uniformly based on their marriage date and not based on the length of their entire relationship. In this way, same-sex couples are unfairly disadvantaged because many have experienced a time in their relationship when civil unions and same-sex marriage were not a possibility.
Contact An Experienced Spousal Maintenance Attorney
Every case is unique, whether it’s a same-sex divorce or an opposite-sex couple seeking a divorce, and there will be complications and nuances that differ from one situation to the next. If you have any questions about spousal maintenance in the Chicago area, we recommend that you contact an experienced spousal maintenance attorney to learn more about your rights.
