In Oregon, there are three different types of spousal support in a divorce or legal separation and are used by the courts to provide different remedies, depending on the situation of your case.
Transitional support
A judge can grant transitional spousal support to help one of the spouses to get the education or training they need to go back into the workforce or advance in the job market. Transitional support is generally ordered for a shorter duration with an anticipated ending.
When deciding whether to grant transitional spousal support, the judge will consider:
- The length of the marriage;
- Spouse’s training and employment skills;
- Spouse’s work experience;
- The financial needs and resources of both spouses;
- The tax impact of a spousal support award;
- Both spouse’s custody and child support responsibilities; and
- Any other factors necessary to make a fair decision.
Compensatory support
A judge can order compensatory support when one spouse has made a significant financial or other type of contribution to the other spouse’s education, training, vocational skills, career, or earning capacity.
Essentially, the party who contributed or sacrificed throughout the marriage, so that the other spouse could make advancements in his or her earning capacity, is reimbursed for those sacrifices, knowing that the divorce will likely prohibit the contributing spouse from enjoying the fruits of his or her contributions. Compensatory support is generally difficult to modify because of the reason it was awarded in the first place.
When deciding whether to grant compensatory spousal support, the judge will consider:
- The amount, length, and type of the contribution you made to your spouse;
- The length of the marriage;
- How much you and your spouse will each be able to earn in comparison to each other
- How much your contribution helped to increase joint assets during the marriage
- The tax impact of a spousal support award; and
- Any other factors necessary to make a fair decision.
Spousal maintenance
Spousal maintenance is support designed to provide the party to whom it is awarded a longer period of support to equalize a wide disparity of earning capacity between the party awarded the support and the party paying the support. In these cases, it is determined that the party receiving support is unlikely to achieve a standard of living commensurate with his or her standard of living throughout the marriage on his or her own without the support of the former spouse.
Spousal maintenance allows a spouse to keep a similar standard of living as they had during the marriage and is generally only ordered in longer-term marriages. Maintenance support can be for a specified time, or it can be indefinite.
When deciding whether to grant spousal maintenance, the judge will consider:
- The length of the marriage;
- Your age and your spouse’s age;
- Your and your spouse’s physical, mental, and emotional health;
- The standard of living during the marriage;
- The income and earning ability of you and your spouse;
- Your and your spouse’s training and employment skills;
- Your work experience and your spouse’s work experience;
- Your and your spouse’s financial needs and resources;
- The tax impact of a spousal support award;
- Your or your spouse’s custody and child support responsibilities; and
- Any other factors necessary to make a fair decision.