What is Permanent Maintenance? | Episode 170

Ryan unravel the complexities of permanent alimony or maintenance in a Colorado divorce from understanding the actual meaning of 'permanent' in this context to exploring the modification of spousal support post-divorce. 

Leaning on real-world examples, Ryan further explains the purpose behind spousal support and its role in transitioning a party towards self-sufficiency and will help you understand the guidelines for the duration of maintenance based on the Colorado Law.

What is Divorce at Altitude?

Ryan Kalamaya and Amy Goscha provide tips and recommendations on issues related to divorce, separation, and co-parenting in Colorado. Ryan and Amy are the founding partners of an innovative and ambitious law firm, Kalamaya | Goscha, that pushes the boundaries to discover new frontiers in family law, personal injuries, and criminal defense in Colorado.

To subscribe to Divorce at Altitude, click here and select your favorite podcast player. To subscribe to Kalamaya | Goscha's YouTube channel where many of the episodes will be posted as videos, click here. If you have additional questions or would like to speak to one of our attorneys, give us a call at 970-429-5784 or email us at info@kalamaya.law.

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS ON THIS PODCAST IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE. CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE OR AREA TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE ON ANY OF THESE ISSUES.

Transcript

Ryan Kalamaya: 0:01

Welcome to Divorce At Altittude, a podcast on Colorado family law. I'm Ryan Kalamaya. Each week, along with my business partner and co-host, Amy Goscha, or an expert, we discuss a particular topic related to Divorce or co-parenting in Colorado. In addition, we have created a short series of lessons that will take you through the legal process of Divorce and answer your questions from simple to complex. Divorce isn't easy. The end of a marriage, especially when children are involved, brings a great deal of loss and change. We hope these practical tips and insights will help you on your journey to a new. And better life. This is a how-to episode on permanent alimony or maintenance in a Colorado Divorce. Now, if you haven't already listened to the other episodes that I've done on maintenance, such as what is spousal support or spousal maintenance, or the difference between temporary maintenance and permanent maintenance, I encourage you to check those out instead. Really what I'm gonna focus on here is how the court determines permanent. Maintenance in a Colorado Divorce. Now, the term permanent is a little bit of a misnomer because it is infrequent that we actually have permanent spousal support. Indeed, we'll hear about how we can modify a party, can modify spousal support after the Divorce. But really again, just as a reminder, Permanent or alimony or maintenance. Really what we're talking about is what happens after the Divorce, after the property has divided after the Divorce is concluded and temporary maintenance has ended. So how does the court determine whether. A party gets 10 years of maintenance or five years of maintenance. Well, really we have to go back and think about what is the purpose of spousal support and it's to help transition a party let's say Melanie Wolf in our hypothetical Divorce scenario to become self-sufficient or, and it really depends on what happened during the marriage. So if Eric and Melanie have been married for 20 years, And Melanie gave up her career. She took care of the kids and she really doesn't have any skills or notable skills to earn income. That's gonna be in stark contrast to Erica and Melanie. They met it was their second marriage and they met when they were 50 years old, and they've only been married for three years, and the law really takes those considerations. Into play in deciding whether Melanie in the first scenario gets maintenance or versus the second. So there's a guideline for the duration of maintenance, and that's pursuant to Colorado revised statute c r s fourteen ten one fourteen. And it starts at three years. So generally speaking three years is kind of the threshold. Now, the law allows a judge to. Award maintenance when the marriage has been less than three years, but it really is gonna take some exceptional circumstances that there's been no property awarded. And but the, you know, the policy that goes into play here is that someone, Melanie is not really giving up her job or reliant on Eric that would warrant spousal support when they've only been married for a year or two. Thanks for listening or watching this short lesson on the Divorce Ude podcast. If you found this helpful, please leave a review or share with a friend. It does help for others that are going through or thinking about a Divorce in Colorado. If you want to find out more information, Please visit Kalamaya Law or Divorce at Altittude dot com and that's K A L A M A Y A law. Remember, this is educational information, it's not intended to be legal advice. Please consult with an attorney about the particulars of your case. We're happy to answer questions. Feel free to give us a call at(970) 315-2365.