Legal Question in Family Law in Kansas

Re: Alimony

Kansas law allows for the payment of spousal maintenance (formerly called alimony). Whether maintenance is acutually ordered depends on many factors. For example, the Johnson County Bench/Bar Family Law Guidelines state that, "Generally, the purpose of maintenance is to rectify an economic imbalance in earning power and standard of living in light of the particular facts of each case, with the primary factors to be considered being the needs of one spouse and the other spouse’s ability to pay.

In addition, the Guidelines remind us that the Kansas Supreme Court has enumerated a wide range of factors that may be considered in arriving at the amount of maintenance to be paid by one spouse to the other.

These factors, as set forth in Williams v. Williams, 219 Kan. 303, 548 P.2d 794 (1976) - as

to factors (A) through (I), and Martin v. Martin, 5 Kan. App. 2d 670, 623 P.2d 527 (1981) -

adding factor (J), are:

(A) Fault (severely restricted as a factor by In re Marriage of Sommers, 246 Kan.

652 [1990]; See also In re Marriage of Cohee, 26 Kan. App. 2d 756 [1999]);

(B) Ages of the parties;

(C) Present and prospective earning capacities of the parties;

(D) Property owned by the parties;

(E) Length of the marriage;

(F) Parties' needs;

(G) Time, source, and manner of acquisition of the property;

(H) Family ties and obligations;

(I) Parties' overall financial situation;

(J) Contribution or sacrifice by one party to aid other party's education or career.

Additional factors to consider in appropriate situations include the dissipation of assets, retraining or educational needs of the parties, the number of years a party has been absent from the job market, and the parties’ skills and ability to re-enter the job market.

We have no information applicable to Kentucky law.