Mastering the Mechanics of Spousal Maintenance Payments in Colorado | Episode 195

In this episode, Ryan Kalamaya sheds some light on how temporary maintenance can include direct payments for shared responsibilities like mortgages and other household expenses. He explains the nuances of how these payments are calculated, the significance of offsetting certain costs, and the practicality of monthly transfers to streamline the financial separation process. 

This episode offers practical tips and insights into the financial intricacies post-divorce, where responsibilities like insurance, cell phone bills, and medical expenses become the sole responsibility of each individual. Ryan also navigates through the possibilities of co-owning property post-divorce due to rising interest rates, emphasizing the importance of maintaining credit health. 

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 how alimony or Colorado maintenance payments work in a Colorado Divorce. Now, the first thing we need to understand that there's the difference between temporary and permanent maintenance. If you don't know that difference or haven't listened to the how-to episode on that particular topic, I encourage you to check that out. And the reason that's important is because how. Alimony payments are made depends on if we're talking about temporary versus permanent maintenance oftentimes, and here's why. In temporary maintenance, if our hypothetical Divorce clients, Eric and Melanie Wolf if Melanie is ordered to pay Eric a particular amount in temporary maintenance, let's say it's.$5,000 a month. Oftentimes in a temporary maintenance situation, one party is going to be living in the house or there's going to be various expenses such as the cell phone insurance mortgage, car payments, those sorts of things. We haven't yet. Unwound or really divided between Eric and Melanie. Melanie might be ordered to pay$5,000 a month, but of that amount, she is going to pay the mortgage that is for the marital residence that Eric is living in. Then that would be taken into consideration. So if the mortgage is, let's say$2,000 a month, then Melanie would. Pay the mortgage$2,000 directly to the bank, and then that would be offset or reduced from the$5,000 amount. But of that$3,000 that she owes Eric she would be either sending that as a bank transfer or a check and she would be doing that. Usually on a monthly basis now we can split up and have it be done where she, for example, pays Eric$1,500, so half of her amount on the first of the month, and then another$1,500. On the 15th of the month, and that might be based on her pay schedule or something of that variety. Now we also have impermanent maintenance. You have that same dynamic, but it becomes far less common in terms of the payments being made directly to a bank. And usually what we, or the mortgage I should say. Usually what we'll have is Melanie will pay Eric, let's say that$5,000 in shill. Make that payment. And again, it's preferable to have some sort of, in today's kind of digital banking world, some sort of, wire transfer or ACH or some sort of transfer between Eric and Melanie's account, and she'll set that up automatically. I. And that would be being made directly into Eric's bank account. And then he in turn would be responsible after the Divorce for his own insurance, his cell phone bill medical expenses, the mortgage, all of those things. Now, that would depend in part on, whether or not they continue to co-own. Or have a mortgage in both of their names. That's becoming a, more common right now because of the elevated interest rates and more people are, deciding to have some sort of grace period of a year or two or three even years on that mortgage. And so Melanie is gonna make sure that. The mortgage is paid, so her credit if she's attached to that mortgage is taken care of. But that is how maintenance payments work and, it should be obvious, but to make the point, Eric's gonna be responsible for his own expenses out of that$5,000 and whatever income he has of his own after the Divorce. So he's gonna be paying for the credit cards. And all of those things. Often what we do not have is an offset or there's some thing, and that's usually comes into child support, which I'll get into in that. The example would be that Eric pays for something that Melanie needs to reimburse him by, or vice versa. And Melanie in turn would reduce the amount that she pays. But that is more, as I said, more. Relevant or happens more often in child support, which I'll record as separate how-to episode, but for now, that's how alimony or spousal maintenance payments work in a Colorado Divorce. And until next time, thanks for joining us on the Divorce at Altitude podcast. 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.