It is relatively common in many divorce cases that one spouse is not in a position to properly support themselves. Under Colorado law, alimony, otherwise known as spousal maintenance, is set up to support a spouse who is not on strong financial footing while he or she either finds a job to support themselves or completes education. The best way to determine if you might be able to collect alimony is to contact a divorce attorney in Greeley CO. Your divorce attorney in Greeley CO will be able to argue on your behalf why you are entitled to collect alimony and how much you will be able to collect.
The courts in Colorado have guidelines that, when used with other factors such as property ownership or child care, that help judges determine how much spousal support should be when there is one spouse that makes significantly more than the other. These guidelines are not mandatory. However, they do let judges have an idea of what state spousal maintenance laws consider fair. The judge can always make this amount higher or lower depending on other factors.
One of the state laws is that they may encourage a fair settlement for spousal maintenance among the spouses if it ends up that one spouse makes significantly more than the other. This could be a life saver for a spouse who needs alimony for a longer of period due to any number of reasons such as schooling or child care.
One thing to keep in mind is that spousal maintenance is very rarely made permanent anymore. Instead, it has been shifting so that it is meant to be a financial rehabilitation measure, rather than a measure for one spouse to support the other for their entire life or when they get married.