alimony estimate

alarming said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Kansas
My wife and i have been married for 22 years and now it is ending in a divorce. My youngest child is 16; my wife has worked off and on over the years, mostly secretary (no college education). I want to propose to her a fair amount of alimony/child support so we don't get bogged down in court, lawyers, etc. Is there a formula, percentage, something that would help? Oh, by the way, i'm in the military (don't know if that has a bearing or not).What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

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mistoffolees said:

Alimony is nowhere near as well defined as child support. While you can find definite child support guidelines (which are treated as hard and fast rules in some areas), it's hard to find alimony guidelines. Judges may have something in mind, but it's typically not published.

The closest I could find was for Johnson County, KS. I don't know what county you're in, but those guidelines should give you a starting point of what is considered fair in Kansas:

"Section 5.6 of the Johnson County Family Law Guidelines deals with the amount of maintenance with no minor children. According to that formula, the maintenance should be determined by calculating 25% of the difference between the gross incomes of the parties up to a difference of $50,000 per year. For a difference over $50,000, add 22% of the excess. Id. at 5.6. When there are minor children, section 5.7 states that the maintenance should be determined by calculating 20% of the difference between gross incomes of the parties. Id. at 5.7. The Johnson County Guidelines address maintenance duration in section 5.8. According to that section, alimony should not last longer than: the number of years of marriage divided by 2.5 if the marriage is five years or less; 2 plus 1/3 of the number of years of marriage for marriages over five years."

Note, also, that she will be entitled to a portion of your military pension.[/QUOTE]

To further expand on the pension issue...most likely she is going to be entitled to 50% or at least very close to 50% of your pension based on the number of years you have been married. Make sure that your paperwork clearly outlines that alimony will end when the pension kicks in and she starts receiving her share. You also want the government to be paying her directly for her share of the pension, because that will directly shift the tax burden to her.

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alarming said:

thanks so much for the information, but is there a way that you can "dumb it down" a little? Is this based on gross income or after taxes? Will my military allowances be included in it or just my base pay? Let's say for instance that before taxes, I make 5,000 a month (that includes my housing allowance and food allowance). From what I understood your post to say, she should be entitled to 25% (1250)? If its based just on my base pay, that number would be quite a bit less.

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