You’re about to get a divorce or legal separation and wonder about alimony in Nevada, or spousal support.

You’ve been married a few years and your spouse earns somewhat less than you, or stayed at home to raise your children or because you didn’t need two incomes.

Now that you are getting a divorce or legal separation, you wonder if you’ll have to pay or alimony spousal support. For the sake of clarification, know that spousal support is what is paid as part of a legal separation, and alimony is what is paid as a result of a divorce.

Nevada Statutes list only things a judge will take under consideration when deciding whether or not to grant spousal support or alimony in Nevada. There is no actual, “set in stone” table to follow based on income like we have for child support.

Below is a partial list of things the judge will look at when deciding whether or not to grant spousal support or alimony. Each and every situation is different, so some of these may or may not matter, and other things in addition, or instead of, these might come into play:

• The financial condition of each spouse
• The nature and value of the respective property of each spouse
• The contribution of each spouse to any property held by the spouses pursuant to NRS 123.030
• The duration of the marriage
• The income, earning capacity, age and health of each spouse
• The standard of living during the marriage
• The career before the marriage of the spouse who would receive the alimony
• The existence of specialized education or training or the level of marketable skills attained by each spouse during the marriage
• The contribution of either spouse as homemaker
• The physical and mental condition of each party as it relates to the financial condition, health and ability to work of that spouse

In some cases, in lieu of, or in addition to, spousal support or alimony in Nevada, the court might grant support  to a spouse for the purpose of obtaining training or education in order to attain new employment, or better employment.

• Whether the spouse who would pay has obtained greater job skills or education during the marriage
• Whether the spouse who would receive alimony provided financial support while the other spouse obtained job skills or education
• Whether the spouse who would receive alimony would be in severe financial straits after the divorce without further job training

Should alimony be granted for the purposes of education or training, more often than not, the judge will also order that the spouse receiving it start the training within a specified amount of time after the granting of the alimony. And more often than not, there is a reasonable time limit placed on it, usually for the length of time it takes the spouse to train or retrain.