This video covers the main factors that come into play when a Michigan court is determining the amount of spousal support to be paid in a divorce case, which party will be responsible for the payments, and, most importantly, if support will be paid at all. Remember – spousal support is subjective. There is no right or wrong answer. But there are plenty of ingredients that go into making the final decision.

The length of the marriage, the ability of one or both parties to work, the age of both parties, state of health, standard of living, and fault are all considered important components in the matter of spousal support.  Macomb County lawyer Jacob Femminineo goes into detail about each of these elements and discusses their relevancy in divorce proceedings.

There are two big questions surrounding spousal support: How much do I have to pay? And how long do I have to pay it? If you have a good divorce attorney, they will argue and negotiate for you to get an equal and fair settlement. However, there are plenty of factors that can come into play to change these numbers – which leads to one of the biggest choices you will make surrounding spousal support: modification.

In this video, Macomb County divorce lawyer Jacob Femminineo explains the difference between a modifiable spousal support arrangement (it can change) and a non-modifiable arrangement (it is set in stone no matter what happens). There are dangers in both choices that must be taken into consideration when considering the final judgment in a divorce. Find out what they are.

The questions surrounding spousal support are not always easy to answer. Parties who are divorcing want to know when they have to pay spousal support, for how long, how much it’s going to be, and so on, but there are a lot of ingredients in the spousal support recipe. While child support is calculated through an objective formula, spousal support is a completely subjective matter.

There are a great number of factors that surround the determination of spousal support (also known as alimony), but the one thing that remains constant is that there is no right or wrong answer. It may feel like there’s a difference between what’s right and what’s wrong to the parties involved, but a judge will make his or her determination based on what they think is appropriate for the situation. Divorce lawyer Jacob Femminineo talks more about the subjectivity of spousal support in this video and how each divorce case can be affected differently.