Encore: Untangling Alimony: The Financial Threads of Divorce

Are you in the beginning steps of a divorce process and wondering how spousal support or maintenance works? This encore episode walks through everything you need to know from family law attorney, Michelle Kniess. She discusses what information is necessary to determine maintenance support to ensure that both sides are equally represented. Michelle and I also talk about the difference between how I support my clients through mediation and how she helps her clients 1:1. We talk about what it looks like if the person receiving spousal support moves in with someone new and how that can impact the amount they get. Tune in to learn what you need to be aware of while going through a divorce that requires maintenance support and how to know what to ask for. 

In this episode:

• [4:05] Michelle shares her story of how she got into her current career.
• [8:31] What does it look like when Michelle is working with a client and determining what they need for maintenance?
• [13:57] What is the expectation of how long alimony will last, and what are the expectations for the person getting maintenance? 
• [17:28] When does maintenance end and what factors go into the duration?
• [19:16] What happens when the person getting maintenance moves in with someone and is sharing expenses? 
• [23:20] Can a couple make the decision to determine their own agreement on maintenance that the court cannot change?

Key Takeaways: 

• [7:15] It’s so important for you to understand what your expenses are and what they’re going to be after divorce so you can understand if spousal support is needed (and if it’s available), or if there are things you need to change regarding your lifestyle, home, or job to be able to stay within your budget.
• [15:48] The person receiving the maintenance can do what they want with their life, if they don’t want to work, they don’t have to, but at some point the court will assume that there’s going to be a level of income earned or that should be earned if the person is fully capable of generating income on their own. 
• [23:23] There are three things that you have to talk about with maintenance, and that is amount, duration and modifiability. If it is ordered by the court then it can be modifiable because the court and the law recognize that there’s changes in circumstances that can happen as life moves forward. 

Quotes: 

[9:02] “When then your marriage is ending and you're finding yourself in this position where you're going to have to be separate and no longer follow this plan, we have to take a look at what are the resources and what are the needs? I mean, that's about as basic as I can put it. And it's a very emotional topic for parties, whether you're on the receiving side or the paying side.” - Michelle Kniess

[21:00] “So you're examining this relationship and trying to make all sorts of crystal ball predictions about it. When you really have no idea what's going to happen there. One thing that's really important about cohabitation is there is no legal obligation attached to that for the person living with the obligee spouse to support that person.” - Michelle Kniess 

[27:29] “A buyout means perhaps somebody gets more property than they would otherwise get just to pay for perhaps a care on waiver or part of the maintenance award.” - Michelle Kniess

Guest Bio: 

Michelle Kniess devotes her entire practice to family law in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Her practice focuses on divorce, custody and parenting time, spousal maintenance, child support, and property valuation and division, including business interests. Michelle practiced as a business litigation attorney prior to pursuing a career in family law. She owned and managed a boutique family law practice for nearly nine years. Michelle...