Hello everyone. It’s Chris, Pritt back again with a new topic in West Virginia divorce. Today, we’re going to be continuing our series on the alimony factors in West Virginia. As we’ve discussed in prior videos, there are 20 factors that the court can consider when deciding whether to award alimony in a case. The next factor we’re going to be talking about is the income-earning ability of the parties.
This is based on factors such as work history, skills, education, and so forth. So, the more likely it is that a person has a greater income-earning ability, regardless of how much they’re making, but their income-earning ability. That’s a factor that the court is going to consider when deciding whether to award alimony. So, let’s say you have somebody who is a stay-at-home parent, but at the same time, they have some type of degree. Let’s say they’re a physician, or they have some other job training or degree that they can use in some capacity. The court may award alimony, but it’s not as likely that they are going to award a larger sum, because that person has the ability in the future to make more money. Likewise, let’s say you have the payer spouse, the payer spouse might be in a situation where they have so much more education and skills than the other person that it might be appropriate for them to be more on the hook for paying a little bit more in alimony. So that is another factor that the court is going to consider.
Another factor that the court is going to consider is the age, mental, and physical health of the parties. So, let’s say that you have people who have been married for a while and one of the people has a physical condition that impedes their ability to go and get back in the workforce. Maybe they can’t go out and get a job because of their mental or physical conditions or their age. That would be a factor that the court would consider in deciding whether to award alimony.
Again, there’s a long list of factors that the court is going to go through to decide whether alimony should be awarded. So, we’re going to continue on tomorrow with more explanations on the alimony factors, but that’s it for today. 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.
