Determining if spousal support is warranted

[cmkingstrom]

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

My parents are going through a divorce. They are currently legally separated.
There are no assets, there is no savings, no stocks, no investments, no retirements set up between the two. They are both up to their eyes in debton top of it. They were married for 31 years.
My mother refused to work during the entirety of the marriage, other then miscellaneous part time jobs here and there throughout the marriage.
My mother moved out and took my 15 year old sister. Both of my parents were unemployed at the time. Court awarded my mother $44 a month in child support based on joint custody (as nothing was stipulated during order that the custody would be anything else).
Now that my mother is working, she is claiming upon her filing for divorce, she will be able to collect attorney costs and allimony from my father. My mother makes more money than my father. She also claims she will be able to get $500 a month in child support. I doubt she will be able to get such a high child support order as my father makes $9/hr and only works 40 hours a week.
My question is: Will my mother be allowed to be awarded spousal support? What criteria is needed in order to determine such a judgement? Is my mother just blowing smoke?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
-A distressed daughter

 

[mistoffolees]

My question is: Will my mother be allowed to be awarded spousal support? What criteria is needed in order to determine such a judgement? Is my mother just blowing smoke?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
-A distressed daughter

The answer is: it doesn't concern you. Do yourself - and everyone else - a favor and don't get involved in your parents' divorce issues.

Aside from that, there are undoubtedly facts that you don't have, so any advice would be no better than guesswork.

If your Dad has questions, send him to this site and have him sign up with his own account.

 

[cmkingstrom]

The answer is: it doesn't concern you. Do yourself - and everyone else - a favor and don't get involved in your parents' divorce issues.

Aside from that, there are undoubtedly facts that you don't have, so any advice would be no better than guesswork.

If your Dad has questions, send him to this site and have him sign up with his own account.

Ok. That does not seem like legal advice.

I would certainly refer my father to the site, however, my mother literally took everything. My father doesn't have a computer, a phone, a tv, nothing.
I am asking on his behalf.
Is that really wrong?
I did not mean to cause any grief on here, just asking for my father.
Thank you.

 

[Silverplum]

Ok. That does not seem like legal advice.

Really?

I would certainly refer my father to the site, however, my mother literally took everything. My father doesn't have a computer, a phone, a tv, nothing.
I am asking on his behalf.
Is that really wrong?
I did not mean to cause any grief on here, just asking for my father.
Thank you.

We do not involve children in their parents' divorces. It's not right.

Your father could use your computer, right? Or the one at the library?

He could also have one or more free initial consultations with local family law attorneys -- ask upfront if the first consult is free.

 

[cmkingstrom]

Really?


We do not involve children in their parents' divorces. It's not right.

Your father could use your computer, right? Or the one at the library?

He could also have one or more free initial consultations with local family law attorneys -- ask upfront if the first consult is free.

I am hardly a child, I am 30- asking for my father. Maybe he could get to a library, if he had a vehicle. He does not. My mother took that as well.
He could use my computer as well, I suppose, if he could get here, but again, no vehicle and he lives quite far away from me.
Understandably, I see why you dislike a child posting for a parent, but I am just trying to offer him some help.

Is there anyone that can just offer some legal advice as to how you determine spousal support?
Thanks for your feedback.

 

[disneykid52]

if a judge orders one party to pay the other support can the other party refuse to receive it?

 

[Proserpina]

if a judge orders one party to pay the other support can the other party refuse to receive it?

Yes.

The other party can also return the monies directly.

I'm only answering OP because I can see this turning into 3 pages of back-and-forth so...

OP, if Dad's earning $9/hour at full time hours (assuming he doesn't have a doctorate in astrophysics or something), the chances of him being ordered to pay much - if any - spousal support aren't strong.

If he was earning more, he'd stand a good chance of being on the hook for lifetime support...but not at those wages.

If Mom is earning considerably more...she could end up paying HIM spousal support.

 

[Silverplum]

I am hardly a child, I am 30-

With a 15 y.o. sister, I'd hardly ass-u-me that the poster is 30.

asking for my father. Maybe he could get to a library, if he had a vehicle. He does not. My mother took that as well.
He could use my computer as well, I suppose, if he could get here, but again, no vehicle and he lives quite far away from me.
Understandably, I see why you dislike a child posting for a parent, but I am just trying to offer him some help.

Is there anyone that can just offer some legal advice as to how you determine spousal support?
Thanks for your feedback.

Here's some MN stuff I googled:

The law is here:
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=518.552

Explanations below:
http://www.divorcesupport.com/divorce/Minnesota-Spousal-Support-Maintenance-Alimony-593.html

http://www.divorcenet.com/states/minnesota/spousal_maintenance_in_minnesota

 

[Proserpina]

With a 15 y.o. sister, I'd hardly ass-u-me that the poster is 30.



Here's some MN stuff I googled:

The law is here:
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=518.552

Explanations below:
Divorce Support - Minnesota Spousal Support/Maintenance/Alimony Factors

Spousal Maintenance in Minnesota | divorcenet.com

You're too, too nice!

 

[Zigner]

My mother refused to work during the entirety of the marriage, other then miscellaneous part time jobs here and there throughout the marriage.

I'm sure that what you meant to say was that your father and mother decided that she would stay at home and raise you and your little sister while your father worked to support the family.

 

[cbg]

And of course, it never occurred to the OP that she could pick up her father and drive him to the library?

She would rather get what is quite likely to be misleading information (because she does not have all the facts that Dad would have) by getting involved in something that is NONE OF HER BUSINESS?

I'm finding it extremely difficult to believe that Dad is so incapacitated by Mom's "taking everything" that he's incapable of getting to a computer somehow. I mean, he has two feet, right? He is able to get to some sort of food source? Or does he just sit in a single bare room and everything is delivered to him by others?

 

[cmkingstrom]

Yes.

The other party can also return the monies directly.

I'm only answering OP because I can see this turning into 3 pages of back-and-forth so...

OP, if Dad's earning $9/hour at full time hours (assuming he doesn't have a doctorate in astrophysics or something), the chances of him being ordered to pay much - if any - spousal support aren't strong.

If he was earning more, he'd stand a good chance of being on the hook for lifetime support...but not at those wages.

If Mom is earning considerably more...she could end up paying HIM spousal support.

Thank you for the help.
My father doesn't even have a GED. Mother has a CNA certification that she just went to class for and was hired immediately.

 

[majomom1]

Thank you for the help.
My father doesn't even have a GED. Mother has a CNA certification that she just went to class for and was hired immediately.

Ya know... I would never ask my kids to "help" me get divorce info, or even let them if they offered. Both my kids have tried to take sides at various points and I tell them to stay out of it. It's my business and I will handle it.

It's funny though, when my ex talks me down to them they stand up to him and tell him he needs to talk to me, if he has a problem, not them. They have lost respect for him because he always wants to blame everyone else for anything that doesn't go his way.

Your father has just as much ability to improve his lot in life as your mother does. He just has to choose to do so. You are not helping him in any way by doing this. He needs to get off his duff and do for himself.

 

[mistoffolees]

Thank you for the help.
My father doesn't even have a GED. Mother has a CNA certification that she just went to class for and was hired immediately.

So how does that prevent him from accessing the internet if you let him use your computer or the library's computer?

 

[LdiJ]

I am going to answer some questions and make some points with the hope that the OP will understand why his/her involvement in this is pretty inappropriate.

1) You stated that your mother just got certified to be a CNA. Do you have any idea how much a CNA makes? I do, my daughter is a CNA. If you think that your mother is making substantially more than your father, you are living in fantasyland.

2) If your father is capable of making significantly more than 9 an hour, and is voluntarily under-employed, then he can be imputed with an income at the level he is capable of earning, and can be ordered to pay child support and even possibly alimony, based on that level of income. Since your father supported a family for 31 years, odds are that he is capable of earning more than 9.00 an hour.

3) Your mother will not be imputed with a higher earning level, because she has only gotten back into the workforce recently, after being a housewife for 31 years...and kudos to her for doing so. Getting a CNA was a quick way to get into the workplace at better than minimum wage. You should be proud of your mother for being smart enough to grasp that opportunity.

You have no idea what went on behind closed doors in your parent's marriage. Taking sides is not going to make you happy in the long term. Knowing the full details of the "behind closed doors" so that you can truly decide whether or not to take sides is not going to make you happy in the long run either...its just going to make you sad and possibly destroy happy childhood memories.

Your parents are getting divorced after 31 years of marriage. That is sad and its ok for you to be sad about that. However, other than that, its in your best interest to be "Switzerland" as in "neutral". Your parents are adults who need to handle their own problems and their own divorce, and deal with their own debts.

If you allow yourself to get sucked into the whole thing, you could easily wrong one of your parents, or even both of them, and also find yourself at odds with your siblings.

And for those other posted who doubted that the OP could be near 30?...OP's parents were married for 31 years. Its quite possible that their oldest could be 30 and their youngest a teenager. In fact, its more likely than any other potential combination.