How a New Relationship or Marriage Affects Alimony

 Posted on July 10, 2019 in Family Law

Many people who get divorced end up remarrying, or at least finding a new partner and moving in with them. In 40 percent of marriages, at least one spouse has already been married at some point. Spouses who receive alimony need to carefully consider remarriage or new relationships, as they will likely be wiping out their future spousal support payments. In Illinois, the legal obligation of the paying spouse ends when the receiving spouse gets married or begins living permanently with a new partner. A DuPage County family law attorney can help give you more information whether you are the paying or the receiving spouse.

What Types of Spousal Support Are There?

Alimony, which is also called spousal support or maintenance, is a financial payment made from a higher earning spouse to the lower-earning spouse during the divorce process or after the marriage has been dissolved. There are many types of alimony, described below:

• Lump Sum Alimony—One large payment, not to be repeated
• Rehabilitative Alimony—Financial support used for vocational training or education
• Reimbursement Alimony—Payment used to reimburse the lower-earning spouse for expenditures they made during the marriage
• Bridge the Gap Alimony—Spousal support that is awarded during the divorce process, used to provide the lower-earning spouse the means necessary to continue living the lifestyle they grew accustomed to during the marriage
• Permanent Alimony—Permanent maintenance payments, usually made monthly
• Temporary Alimony—Spousal support that has a predetermined end date. Many of the previously described types of alimony are temporary.

Temporary and permanent spousal support is affected by remarriage or cohabitation. Alimony that was already paid, be it a lump sum or monthly allotments, does not need to be paid back after remarrying, except for payments made after the receiving spouse remarried or entered a cohabitation relationship.

Receiving Spouses Can be Held Responsible for Paying Back Maintenance

Once marriage papers are signed, the paying spouse no longer has an obligation to pay spousal support. And payments made after the receiving spouse has remarried can be pursued by the receiving spouse. It is the receiving spouse’s obligation to notify the paying spouse of the marriage as well as refund payments after remarriage. Additionally, a receiving spouse who is cohabiting “with another person on a resident, continuing conjugal basis” has voided their support payments under 750 ILCS 5 Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Such a spouse must also return maintenance payments, starting from the date that a court determines that cohabitation began.

A DuPage County Family Law Attorney Is Here to Help

For any questions or concerns regarding spousal support in Illinois, we strongly urge you to call the experienced DuPage County spousal support attorney at the Law Office of Martoccio & Martoccio. Contact us today by calling 630-920-8855 to schedule a free consultation with one of our family law lawyers as soon as possible.

Sources:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs5.asp?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2014/11/14/remarriage-on-the-rise-in-the-us-pew-report-says