Spousal support and the marital standard of living

From a financial perspective, there’s a lot at stake in divorce proceedings. Property division alone, depending on how it plays out, can either provide you with the financial stability you need post-divorce or leave you with an uncertain future. The outcome of a spousal support dispute can have ramifications that are just as severe. That’s why you need to do everything you can to protect your interests throughout divorce, including addressing every factor considered under the law.

Assessing standard of living for spousal support purposes

One of the most important aspects of a spousal support determination is the standard of living that was enjoyed by the couple during the course of marriage. The court will typically try to provide each spouse with the resources he or she needs to maintain that standard of living, but oftentimes the paying spouse simply doesn’t have that kind of resources. However, the marital standard of living gives the court a starting point, which is why accurately establishing it is important.

There are a lot of factors that are taken into account when determining the marital standard of living. The home you live in, the vehicles you drive, the vacations you take, and even the frequency with which you dine out can play into your marital standard of living. Just keep in mind that the court is only going to look at the standard of living that you could actually fund, which means that it’s going to carefully look to see if your standard of living was debt-driven and therefore artificially inflated.

Protect your financial interests during divorce

If you think that the marital standard of living is a nuanced aspect of a spousal support determination, you’re not wrong. In fact, the divorce process has a lot of details like that which need to be appropriately addressed if you hope to protect your financial interests. That’s why skilled legal teams like ours stand ready to help you analyze your circumstances, apply the law to them, and craft the compelling legal arguments that you need to seize the future you deserve.