Spousal maintenance is almost always a contested issue in a Dakota County divorce. Minnesota law does not set out a statutory formula for spousal maintenance awards. Therefore, it is often left to divorce attorneys to fight out the exact terms.
Under Minnesota law, spousal maintenance is a money award made pursuant to a divorce or legal separation proceeding. The monetary award is made in the form of periodic payments from the future income or earning of one spouse which is paid for the support and maintenance of the other spouse.
Four Types of Spousal Maintenance in Minnesota
In Minnesota, spousal maintenance can be either: (1) reserved, (2) awarded, (3) waived, or (4) denied.
A reservation of spousal maintenance means that there is no present payment of maintenance from one spouse to the other. If a spouse receives a reservation, he or she may petition the court for an award of spousal maintenance up to the date of that spouse’s remarriage or the death of either the husband or the wife. Furthermore, the parties can make any other agreement they come to related to the reservation.
When a spouse who received the reservation of maintenance petitions the court, the court will treat the award as a de novo requeset. What does that mean?
If a court treats a petition as a de novo request, it will start the case with “fresh eyes” and review all the facts of the case before making an award. De novo is a latin term meaning: to start over. When looking at the case by starting over, the court considers the request by reviewing the current Minnesota law and all facts related to why the court should award maintenance.
Temporary or Permenant Maintenance in Minnesota
When the court makes an actual award of spousal maintenance, it will determine whether the maitenance should be temporary or permanent.
Temporary Spousal Maintenance
Temporary maintenace is awarded for a fixed or “finite” period of time. The award will be made to assist the spouse receiving maintenance to either re-enter the job market or upgrade the education and/or skills needed to re-enter the workforce via improved employment opportunities. If temporary maintanance is awarded, it may be extended eyond the termination date.
Absent a reservation, if a maintenance obligation is to be paid on a specific date (for example: the 1st or 15th day of a month) the person who is ordered to pay maintenance (the obligor) must pay maintenance according to the established schedule. Once all payment have been made pursuant to the schedule, the judge will have no further autority to address a motion to modify maintenance made after the temporary spousal maintenance obligation expires.
Permanent Spousal Maintenance
A permeanent spousal maintenance award is permenant unless to person receiving maintenance remarries or either party dies. Permenant maintenance awards may be modified, unless the parties specfifically contract away their rights to modify. Speaking with a qualified Dakota County divorce lawyer is a good place to start to determine the specifics of a permenant spousal maintenance award.
Waiver of Spousal Maintenance
Maintenance may only be waived by the party to whom it might have been awarded. Therefore, if a wife who has been a homemaker most of the marriage earns much less than her husband, she would be the one entitled to waiver. Furthermore, if a wiaver of spousal maintenance is made, there must be “consideration” for the waiver in the divorce decree.
Consideration for a waiver in a divorce decree means that some kind of monetary reimbursement are award was made for the person’s agreement to waive his or her rights to spousal maintenance. That consideration can be such things as an award of the marital residence or a lump-sum cash award in exchange for the waiver.
If maintenance in Minnesota is denied or waived, it means that the party to who the maintenance was denied or who waived the maintenance will never receive payment of maintenance from the other side. A person considering a waiver must be very certain that they know what they are doing.
For further questions about spousal maintenance or Dakota County divorces, contact Joseph M. Flanders of Flanders Law Firm LLC.
