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Spousal support is when one spouse makes payments (typically monthly) to another spouse.
Yes, spousal support is available for both married and common law couples. A person who was in a common law relationship (not married, but lived together in a conjugal relationship for at least 3 years) may make an application for spousal support.
Entitlement to spousal support is not automatic. In order to receive spousal support, a person must establish one of three grounds:
1. Contractual: For example, if the parties have an agreement in place like a marriage contract or separation agreement that specifies that one of them is entitled to spousal support, then they will be entitled to spousal support.
2. Compensatory: For example, if a person can show that they stayed at home with the children and thus gave up career opportunities because of the marriage, they will likely be entitled to spousal support.
3. Needs Based: For example, if a couple divorces and one of them desperately needs spousal support in order to get by and the other spouse has the ability to pay spousal support, then the spouse in need may be entitled to spousal support.
The amount of spousal support depends on whether the couple had children or not.
If the couple did not have children: then the amount of spousal support will usually be between 1.5-2.0% of the difference between the spouses’ gross incomes for each year of marriage, including cohabitation, up to a maximum of 50% of the payor’s income. For example, imagine that a couple was married for 10 years. The husband earns $100,000.00 per year and the wife earns $0.00 per year. The difference between what the two of them make per year is $100,000.00. The wife would be entitled to 15-20% of that $100,000.00 (1.5-2.0% x 10 years of marriage), so she would be entitled to spousal support of between $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 per year.
If the couple did have children: then the person receiving support would be entitled to 40-46% of the couple’s combined net disposable income. For example, imagine that a husband earns $100,000.00 per year and the wife earns $50,000.00 per year. The combined net disposable income is $150,000.00 per year. The wife is entitled to 40-46% of that, being $60,000.00 to $69,000.00. When we subtract the $50,000.00 that she is already making, that means that she would be entitled to $10,000.00 – $19,000.00 in support per year.
Yes, in Canada we call it spousal support and in the United States they call it alimony.
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