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Alimony, also called spousal support or maintenance, is financial support paid by or to your spouse and can be awarded on a temporary basis during the divorce and on a more permanent basis once a divorce is granted.1 Alimony will stop if either party dies, unless the alimony order says otherwise. To decide the amount of alimony and for how long alimony will be paid, a judge will consider your and your spouse’s:
- income;
- earning capacity;
- age, physical, mental, and emotional condition;
- retirement benefits;
- length of marriage;
- ability to have a job outside of the home due to custody of a minor child from the marriage;
- standard of living during the marriage;
- education;
- assets and liabilities, including any court-ordered payments;
- contribution to the education, training, or increased earning capacity of the other spouse, including any contribution to helping the other get a professional degree;
- education, training, or job experience to get an appropriate job and the amount of time and money you (the spouse asking for support) would need to get the necessary education, training, or experience;
- tax consequences; and
- lost income or earning capacity because of marital responsibilities, such as staying at home or caring for minor children.2
Note: The judge can also consider any other factors that the judge thinks are important to make a decision.2
The judge will assume that both you and your spouse contributed the same amount to any marital income.3
1 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.18(B)
2 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.18(C)(1)
3 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.18(C)(2)
Can my alimony award be changed?
The judge can change your alimony payments if there is:
- a change of circumstances for either you or your spouse; and
- your divorce decree or separation agreement has a portion that allows a future judge to modify (change) your alimony payments.
A change of circumstances could mean an increase or an involuntary decrease in you or your spouse’s wages, salary, bonuses, living expenses, or medical expenses. The change in circumstances must be:
- substantial;
- make the alimony award unreasonable or inappropriate; and
- something that wasn’t considered by you and your spouse or by the judge when the original alimony award was issued.
The judge will enforce any voluntary agreement between you and your spouse about modifying spousal support.1
1 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.18(D)-(F)
If my spouse and I get divorced, how will our property be divided?
If you and your spouse can’t agree on how to divide your property, the judge will divide it using a legal standard called “equitable distribution.” This means the judge will divide it in a way that is fair (equitable), though it may not be exactly equal.1
There are two main steps the judge must take when dividing property:
Step 1: Identify which property is marital and which is separate.1
- Marital property is the property that belongs to both spouses. To see what Ohio law considers to be marital property, go to What is marital property?
- Separate property is the property that belongs to only one spouse. To see what Ohio law considers to be separate property, go to What is separate property?
Step 2: Divide the marital property fairly.
After completing Step 1, the judge will fairly divide the marital property using the theory of equitable distribution.1 Fair division usually means dividing property equally, but the judge can decide on a different split if an equal division is unfair. To decide what is fair, the judge looks at several factors, as explained in How will the judge decide what property division is fair? 2
Separate property is usually kept by the spouse who owns it.3
1 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.171(B)
2 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.171(C)(1)
3 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.171(D)
What is marital property?
In Ohio, marital property includes:
- property that either spouse gets (acquires) during the marriage, regardless of who got it or whose name it is in;1
- retirement and investment accounts acquired during the marriage;
- interest earned on any property or accounts while married;
- income or increased value from property that you or your spouse contributed to during the marriage, even if the property itself belongs to you or your spouse separately. Contributions could include work, money, or goods and services (in-kind).2
1 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.171(A)(3)(a)(i), (H)
2 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.171(A)(3)(a)(ii)-(iv)
What is separate property?
In Ohio, separate property includes:
- an inheritance received by either spouse, even if it was received during the marriage;
- property either spouse owned before the marriage;
- income or increased value from separate property that doesn’t involve putting in any work or investment during the marriage (passive income);
- property either spouse got after a legal separation;
- property that isn’t considered marital property because of a prenuptial or post-nuptial agreement;
- money from personal injury lawsuits or settlements, except for amounts covering lost marital income or expenses paid from marital funds; and
- gifts that are clearly given to only one spouse.1
1 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.171(A)(6)(a)
How will the judge decide what is a fair division of marital property?
The judge will look at these factors when deciding what is a fair (equitable) division of your marital property:
- duration of the marriage- how long you and your spouse were married;
- assets and liabilities- the financial situation of both spouses, including what each owns and owes;
- family home- whether the parent who has custody of the children should get ownership of the family home, or just the right to live in it temporarily;
- liquidity of the property- how easily the property can be converted into cash;
- economic desirability of keeping an asset whole- whether it makes sense financially to keep certain assets or investments whole (intact) rather than splitting them;
- tax consequences- how dividing the property affects each spouse’s taxes;
- costs of sale- how much it costs to sell the property if that needs to happen in order to divide it fairly;
- separation agreement- how you and your spouse agreed to divide the property in a separation agreement, if there was one;
- retirement benefits- your and your spouse’s retirement accounts or pensions; the judge will only look at Social Security benefits if it’s relevant to dividing a public pension;
- financial misconduct- whether either spouse wasted (dissipated), destroyed, hid (concealed), did not tell (disclose), or fraudulently transferred assets;
- failure to share required financial information- whether either spouse purposefully did not mention any marital property, separate property, assets, debts, income, and expenses as required during the divorce process; and
- other relevant factors- anything else the judge decides is important for fairness.1
1 Ohio Rev. Code § 3105.171(F), (E)(4)-(5)
