Could judge give spousal support even if my wife doesn't ask for it?

[hrast]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona

Tomorrow, my wife and I are going to the court together to file for divorce. We've been married for just over 7 years. There are no lawyers involved and we completed the paperwork ourselves because we were able to come to a mutually satisfying agreement regarding how to split debt and assets, and we stated that in the "Consent Decree" asking judge just to divorce us and not rule on how we should split the property or anything else.

My wife is the official petitioner and she didn't ask for spousal support - part of our agreement. For our protection we also signed and notarized separate agreement stating in more details what each party gets, although we don't mention any $ amounts, and includes a clause that either party won't ask for and/or accept spousal support. We won't provide the court with this document. The court will get short version of this document instead where we only state that both parties have divided all debt and assets to their mutual satisfaction.

Now to my questions:
(1) If my wife changes her mind at a later stage of the divorce process, could she still ask the court to give her spousal support? What recourse do I have given we signed and notarized private agreement stating she won't ask for spousal support?
(2) Could the judge grant her spousal support regardless of the fact she doesn't ask for it? For example, let's assume she looses her modestly paying job between now and court hearing, given I make decent money could judge award her alimony regardless of our private agreement and the fact that she didn't ask for it?

[Bali Hai]

Originally Posted by hrast

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona

Tomorrow, my wife and I are going to the court together to file for divorce. We've been married for just over 7 years. There are no lawyers involved and we completed the paperwork ourselves because we were able to come to a mutually satisfying agreement regarding how to split debt and assets, and we stated that in the "Consent Decree" asking judge just to divorce us and not rule on how we should split the property or anything else.

My wife is the official petitioner and she didn't ask for spousal support - part of our agreement. For our protection we also signed and notarized separate agreement stating in more details what each party gets, although we don't mention any $ amounts, and includes a clause that either party won't ask for and/or accept spousal support. We won't provide the court with this document. The court will get short version of this document instead where we only state that both parties have divided all debt and assets to their mutual satisfaction.

Now to my questions:
(1) If my wife changes her mind at a later stage of the divorce process, could she still ask the court to give her spousal support? What recourse do I have given we signed and notarized private agreement stating she won't ask for spousal support?
(2) Could the judge grant her spousal support regardless of the fact she doesn't ask for it? For example, let's assume she looses her modestly paying job between now and court hearing, given I make decent money could judge award her alimony regardless of our private agreement and the fact that she didn't ask for it?

You're not going to get an answer to that question because the majority of members here would do exactly 180 degrees OPPOSITE of what your stbx wife is doing.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by hrast

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona

Tomorrow, my wife and I are going to the court together to file for divorce. We've been married for just over 7 years. There are no lawyers involved and we completed the paperwork ourselves because we were able to come to a mutually satisfying agreement regarding how to split debt and assets, and we stated that in the "Consent Decree" asking judge just to divorce us and not rule on how we should split the property or anything else.

My wife is the official petitioner and she didn't ask for spousal support - part of our agreement. For our protection we also signed and notarized separate agreement stating in more details what each party gets, although we don't mention any $ amounts, and includes a clause that either party won't ask for and/or accept spousal support. We won't provide the court with this document. The court will get short version of this document instead where we only state that both parties have divided all debt and assets to their mutual satisfaction.

Now to my questions:
(1) If my wife changes her mind at a later stage of the divorce process, could she still ask the court to give her spousal support? What recourse do I have given we signed and notarized private agreement stating she won't ask for spousal support?
(2) Could the judge grant her spousal support regardless of the fact she doesn't ask for it? For example, let's assume she looses her modestly paying job between now and court hearing, given I make decent money could judge award her alimony regardless of our private agreement and the fact that she didn't ask for it?

Either one of you could change your mind before the divorce was final, and possibly convince your judge to reopen property and other issues. You will both have to just hope that the other doesn't change their mind.