If you divorce, you will most likely wonder about many aspects of the process. Alimony is an issue that comes up often; mostly, people have questions about what happens once the divorce is final. However, alimony can be an important part of the divorce process as well.
Why is temporary alimony different from permanent alimony?
Permanent alimony refers to alimony that is enforced after the divorce, even though it’s usually not permanent. This is the kind of alimony that people think about most often. However, temporary alimony does not specify how long it will last.
If a couple decides to divorce, one spouse may have been the primary breadwinner throughout the marriage, while the other spouse remained at home and raised the children, earning little to no income themselves. If the couple decides to divorce, the breadwinning spouse moves out of the home and the financial support goes with them.
In that situation, most likely, the other spouse may very well have a difficult time paying the mortgage and caring for the children. Additionally, how will that spouse afford the legal expenses involved in a contested divorce? In such a situation, temporary alimony may come in. Temporary alimony will cover the time between when the divorce is filed and when it is final.
It is important to understand here that temporary alimony is not automatically granted by the court—it must be requested by the spouse who is suffering a financial disadvantage. The court will then weigh many different factors and make a decisions as to whether temporary alimony should be ordered during the divorce process. Once the final divorce final, temporary alimony will end and it will be replaced with permanent alimony, if it is needed.