Child Support, Alimony and Property Division
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| Is there a rule or formula for alimony? |
No. If a divorcing couple leaves the question of alimony to a court to decide, the court will make an order based upon the particular circumstances of that individual couple.
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| How does a court decide whether to order alimony and if so how much and for how long? |
In each particular case, the trial judge must consider various factors including the length of the marriage, the cause for the dissolution of the marriage and for each spouse his or her age, health, station, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, needs and child care responsibilities.
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| If an asset is in the name of one spouse alone, does that spouse automatically get to keep it? |
No. A court may typically distribute assets to either spouse whether a particular assets is owned by the husband, the wife or the spouse jointly.
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| How does a court decide to divide up property? |
Similarly to alimony, a trial judge must consider various factors and make a property division order that is fair and equitable in light of the circumstances of each particular case.
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| If one spouse had an affair during the marriage, is he or she penalized in the financial outcome? |
Not necessarily. If the affair caused the dissolution of the marriage, the court must consider the affair when making alimony and property division orders. Often however, affairs do not have a substantial impact on such orders.
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| How is child support determined? |
The court considers the needs of each child and the ability of each parent to pay support. In addition, Connecticut has adopted Child Support Guidelines which include a formula for determining child support based primarily upon the income of each of the parents.
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| If the children live with each parent at different times, does this mean that there will be no child support paid by either? |
No. In most circumstances, even when a child lives 50% of the time with each parent, child support will be paid by one parent to the other.
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| For how long does child support last? |
Typically until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later, but not after age 19.
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