As you will recall from our story, Guinevere divorced King Arthur and took 60% of his family jewels. While that sounds like a lot, and it is, Guinevere was also looking to get alimony. Well, fortunately for King Arthur, his kingdom has an alimony statute that is virtually the same as the Texas statute governing spousal maintenance (spousal maintenance = alimony in Texas).
Prior to their divorce, Guinevere learned about alimony by watching a number of shows on Oprah, Dr. Phil and Judge Judy. She thought she would be getting paid for life (she was only living with Sir Lancelot). Unfortunately, those shows were based on the alimony laws of the very different kingdoms of California and New York.
Well, in Texas, just like in King Arthur’s kingdom, receiving alimony is not so easy. Unless you have been married for 10 years, you do not qualify with a couple of exceptions. The duration of the marriage is not a qualifying factor if the obligor has been convicted or received deferred adjudication for a criminal offense within two years before the suit has been filed or during the pendency of the suit which constitutes family violence. Duration of the marriage is also not a factor if a child of the marriage has a mental or physical disability that requires substantial care and personal supervision that prevents the spouse/obligee from earning enough money to meet his/her minimum reasonable needs.
Assuming you can get past the requirements listed above, you still must overcome a number of statutory requirements to be able to obtain spousal maintenance. Call an experienced family lawyer at Hammerle, Finley to walk you through the process.
