Divorce can be an expensive endeavor, especially if you’re a business owner. Pursuant to Colorado’s equitable distribution law, marital assets have to be divided fairly, which means that your business could be on the line. Yet, even if you’re successful in negotiating a property division settlement that spares your ownership and control of the business, you could still face significant financial losses in the form of spousal support.
When your spouse seeks alimony, they essentially state to the court that they need post-divorce financial support until they can become self-sufficient. As a result, you’ll likely see arguments from your spouse that they gave up their career or education to support you or raise your children, and they’ll try to inflate your income to demonstrate to the judge that you’re capable of paying the support requested. You have to be prepared to counter these arguments if you want to minimize or eliminate your spouse’s chances of recovering alimony, but how do you do that?
Tips for fighting back against a request for spousal support
Far too many people going through divorce cave on the issue of alimony to wrap up their marriage dissolution as quickly as possible. Don’t do that. Instead, think through the following tips to see if you can use any of them in your case:
- Present evidence that your spouse has financial stability: Remember, the goal of alimony is to provide support until the receiving spouse becomes self-sufficient. If you can show that your spouse is financially stable without spousal support, then you’ll be in a stronger position to fight back against an alimony request. That financial stability might come from gainful employment, but it could also come from your spouse’s new love interest or savings that they’ve built up independently over the years. Be sure to look for assets that your spouse may have hidden from you and the court to try to secure alimony benefits.
- Consider alternatives: Even if it looks like your spouse may be entitled to spousal support, you might avoid hefty ongoing payments by considering alternatives. For example, you could offer to pay your spouse a one-time lump sum that gives them financial support immediately after the divorce is finalized but that spares you the costs of ongoing spousal support. Another option is to simply consider other ways to divide your marital assets to provide your spouse with a little bit of extra support once the divorce is settled.
- Focus on your expenses: To secure alimony, your spouse will have to show that you have the ability to pay it. Therefore, the better you highlight your financial obligations, the better positioned you’ll be to sidestep an alimony obligation. So, if you own a business, be sure to consider all financial obligations tied to your business operations. You may need to speak to your accountant and your attorney about the best way to document this.
- Ask for a vocational evaluation: Here, the judge considers your spouse’s education, training and experience to determine how much income they’re capable of earning. This could help you show that your spouse is able to earn enough to forego spousal support, or it could at least diminish the amount of support that you’re required to pay.
Know how to aggressively protect your interests in your divorce proceedings
There are a lot of issues that can go sideways in a divorce if you’re not careful. That’s why adequate preparation is key to securing the outcome you want. You have to be thorough and thoughtful, too, so that you don’t miss something that could come back to bite you in the end.
So, if you want to learn more about what you can do to protect your short and long-term interests in your divorce, then now is the time to learn more about the law, how it applies to your circumstances and how to develop the effective legal strategies needed to address the unique facts of your case.