My 48 year old wife of 20 years has no job, is moving in with her mother while she “finds herself” and looks for employment. She hasn’t worked in @ 15 years. Apparently she’s having a major mid-life crisis and I’ve caught her having romantic conversations with another man. I will have primary custody of our 14 year old son and will occupy our house with him until it is sold. My question is: Once we sign a separation agreement, how much (if any) post separation support would I be expected to pay and for how long? We are on a tight budget as it is with considerable credit card debt. I will be paying all the household bills and the credit card payments. I have agreed to keep her on my medical insurance and pay her car insurance in the near future. As much as I’d like to, I don’t want to cut her off completely so as to maintain civility, but I also don’t want to get taken while she “builds her new life” with little or no responsibilities.
If you sign an agreement on all issues, you will be in control of reaching an agreement with your spouse on how long/ how much you both reason support is necessary The amount of support is determined by the amount the dependant spouse needs, and the amount the supporting spouse can pay. You will both create budgets to see more clearly what your expenses are. A good rule of thumb for a term of alimony is half the length of the marriage, though not outlined in the statutes, it is a commonly used to establish a term for support payments.