Changing Your Ohio Spousal Support
When you are going through a divorce or dissolution of marriage in Ohio, you and your spouse, with help from the court, will come to agreements that work for you at that time. Each spouse will likely have to make some concessions, but you should reach a plan that is satisfactory to you both at that point in your lives.
As time goes on, however, the plans you made years ago will probably not work quite as well. It’s rare for a divorce or dissolution agreement to work exactly right for the duration of your lives, as so many things change with time. One of the things that might not work as well for you after time passes is your alimony arrangement, or your spousal support, as it is called in Ohio.
At the time you finalize your divorce, the court will award spousal support to one spouse based on consideration of the following factors:
- Both spouses’ incomes;
- The spouses’ abilities to earn income;
- The age and health of both spouses;
- Retirement accounts and benefits of both spouses;
- The length of the marriage;
- The standard of living the spouses developed during the marriage;
- Both spouses’ educations;
- Each spouse’s assets and debts;
- The contributions to training or education of one spouse made by the other spouse, such as finances or services and support in the home;
- The potential tax implications of the spousal support on the part of both spouses;
- Any sacrifices in earning potential made by one spouse for the benefit of the home or marriage.
The spouses will agree that one will pay the other either a lump sum or regular (usually monthly) payments for a certain duration of time. But what happens if one spouse loses his or her job or experiences another financial event that makes the current spousal support unworkable? In these situations, you can change your support payments.
You have two options for going about this change:
- Come to a new agreement together; or
- Look to the court for a new agreement.
Either way, you need court approval. The court will be willing to approve any voluntary agreement you and your former spouse are able to reach. Either by yourselves or by reengaging your lawyers, you can talk through the changes in circumstances and hopefully arrive at a new payment that works for both of you in your current situations.
If you’re not able to do this for one reason or another, you can go back to the court and explain the nature of your situations and ask for a new order regarding spousal support. The change in your life or your spouse’s life must be substantial and not present or anticipated at the time of the original order. The court will then order new support that it finds appropriate and equitable given the circumstances.
Call (614) 733-9999 to contact our Divorce Attorney in Columbus, Ohio at Dawes Legal, LLC, for more information about modifying spousal support in Ohio.
Dawes Legal, LLC
169 E Livingston Ave
Columbus, OH 43215
Telephone (614) 733-9999