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Some people seem to believe that alimony, or spousal support as it is know in Michigan, is a thing of the past. This is incorrect, alimony is alive and well in Michigan, it must be given very serious attention when considering a divorce or separation. One question that I am asked more often recently is whether income from a second job ,for either the payor or the recipient of support, is included when determining alimony. This blog is limited to a general explanation of how the family law courts in Michigan will handle income from a second job when determining spousal support. If you have questions about your own particular situation, please do not hesitate to schedule a consultation by clicking on this link or calling (248) 608-4123 to schedule a consultation.
Is Income From A Second Job Included When Determining Alimony In Michigan?
While child support is strictly based upon a formula, alimony is supposed to be based upon an examination of fourteen different factors that include such things as the length of the marriage, the parties ages, incomes, their health, ability to work, fault in causing the divorce, cohabitation and others, including a catch all phrase referring to "general principles of equity".
There are some computer programs that will provide an estimate or prognostication of what alimony could or should be in a given case, but these programs do not take into account all of the factors. It also depends on the judge assigned to your case whether the judge will give any weight to the estimate any particular program produces. Some judges will use a program to provide a starting point and work up or down from there depending on the factors, some judges just follow the recommendation of the program (which is technically not proper and could result in an appeal) and some judges will not consider or even look at the output from any computer program and just determine alimony as they see fit based upon the factors and the evidence presented.
As indicated above child support is calculated using the Michigan Child Support Formula, the State also produces a child support manual that answers a variety of questions about how to use the formula which the state updates yearly. The same is not true for alimony, there is no actual formula and there is no manual that details how or what to include when calculating it. So, while alimony is different than child support and is intended to serve a different purpose than child support, the courts and family law attorneys will often look to the child support manual and extrapolate from there.
The child support guidelines indicate that when it comes to a second job, bonuses or essentially income from any source whatsoever, that income is included in the calculation. This means that typically income from a second job would be included when figuring out how much alimony or spousal support should be paid, but again, there is no manual and it really is determined by what the judge assigned to your case concludes should be included in alimony.
One argument that the court or the other party in mediation will sometimes accept is where the client is working a primary job for forty hours per week and a second job on top of that. In those cases, generally the client could quit the second job and reduce their support obligation without any negative consequences from the divorce court because the court generally does require someone to work more than forty hours per week. Given this, why should the person have to pay additional support based upon income they are voluntarily earning at a second job when they could just quit? Based upon those facts, sometimes the other party to the case may waive the inclusion of that income at mediation or the court may decline to include that income when determining the amount of alimony if the case goes to trial. Please note that the same is not true for overtime income from the primary employer, that is almost always included when calculating support.
As stated above this blog is intended for general informational purposes only, if you have specific questions, please contact us to schedule a consultation by clicking on this link or calling (24) 608-4123.
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