Payments made from one spouse to the other during a separation or a divorce is generally known as spousal support or alimony. This can be in the form of rehabilitative support, i.e. payments made over a period of time to enable the supported spouse to obtain a career and become self-supporting.

Alimony, family support, separate maintenance payments, and spousal support may be deductible from the income of the spouse making the payment and taxable income to the supported spouse. Family support and separate maintenance payments are a combination of spousal support and child support.

Under both situations a court is authorized to order spousal support. As part of the judgment of dissolution or legal separation, a court may order payment of alimony. Similarly, a court may order one spouse to pay “temporary” alimony to the other spouse while a divorce or legal separation lawsuit is pending.

The law relating to this aspect varies from state to state and, accordingly, one spouse may be ordered to pay support to the other spouse. One spouse may bring a lawsuit against the other spouse for his/her failure to provide support.

Depending upon the corresponding state law, courts consider factors like duration of the marriage, the ability to maintain the standard of living established during the marriage, considering the respective earning capacities of the spouses, the impairment of present or future earning capacity due to periods of unemployment during the marriage devoted to domestic duties, the age and health of the respective spouses, earned and unearned income, assets, and standard of living of the spouses , etc.

Generally, alimony must be paid during the time in which the supported spouse becomes self-supportive by seeking education, training, and marketable job skills in order to establish a career or otherwise. The responsibility for providing childcare during the early years of a minor child is also taken in to consideration by the courts when determining the issue of alimony/ spousal support. Alimony could be permanent in cases where the supported spouse is of advanced age or suffers from serious medical problems. Normally, an order for alimony terminates upon the death or remarriage of the supported spouse.