Maintenance - Can I survive without help?

Sometimes, property can not be equally divided. Then one spouse pays monies to the other to equalize things. this is called maintenance in gross, it is not the same as periodic maintenance which is survival help.

Periodic maintenance is paid because the earning power of the parties is so skewed that one of them can not survive at a reasonable standard through their own efforts. A quick rule of thumb is that Judges feel that anyone earning what their secretary earns “must” be self-supporting. If you make cloe to what an impoverished county worker makes, there is not much hope for maintenance.

Even if you need maintenance, the court must find that your spouse has a sufficient ability to cover those needs without harming their ability to live.