Hello everyone. It’s Chris, Pritt back again with a new topic in West Virginia divorce. This is a continuation of a series that we’re doing on the alimony factors in West Virginia. Altogether there are 20 factors in which we will cover in this series. Today we’re going to be talking about two different factors that are going to be considered when it comes to whether to award alimony in West Virginia. One of those factors is the time in which the parties live together as husband and wife. The other is the present income/earning ability of the parties.
Sometimes you might have a situation where people have lived together for five years during their marriage. They might separate, and be apart for 15 years or more, I’ve had cases where people were married over 20 years ago, and they separated shortly thereafter and the point of this is they never cohabitated together. So, the length of time in which people live together as husband and wife, regardless of whether they’re married or not, is a factor. If the amount of time they lived together as husband and wife is longer, then a court is more likely to grant alimony.
Another factor that the court is going to consider is the present income and earning abilities of the people. Also, any other income they have coming in from other sources. So, let’s say you have, uh one person who’s making $500,000 a year and you have another person who’s making $20,000 a year. On the other hand, maybe one person isn’t making any money at all, they’re just unemployed or they’re a stay-at-home parent. That would be a factor that would lend more towards somebody being awarded alimony in West Virginia. Now the closer you get to the parties having an equal income the less likely it is that there is going to be an award of alimony.
So those are two of the factors that a court is going to consider when it comes to whether to award alimony. That consists of today’s topic. If you have any questions at all, feel free to give us a call at (304) 720 4412 or email us at chris@prittlaw.com.
