Spousal support is money to help with daily living expenses such as rent and food, that one spouse (husband or wife) gets from the other spouse either:

• after they are divorced, or
• while they are legally separated and going through a divorce.

There are two kinds of spousal support in Louisiana. One is called "interim (temporary) spousal support," and the other is called "final periodic support."  Interim spousal support is to keep the "status quo" of marriage (that is, for one spouse to keep living a lifestyle she or he had while married). Final periodic support is for needy circumstances (that is, when a spouse needs the money to live on).

Who Can Get Spousal Support?

The spouse going through a legal separation or divorce, or who has been divorced. This spouse must show that:

• she or he needs financial support from the other spouse, and
• the other spouse can afford to pay the spousal support amount.

You may get spousal support if you can show that it is not your fault that your marriage has ended. The court looks at many things, including:

• Do you need spousal support?
• What is your income or means?
• What is the other spouse’s income or means?
• Do you or the other spouse have other financial responsibilities, like child support?
• Does caring for your children keep you from working?
• Do you need support to help you get the right education or training for employment?
• Are you unemployed?
• How old are you and how healthy are you?
• How long have you been married?
• Do you have to pay extra taxes because of the divorce?

When you file for divorce, you can ask the court for spousal support. To get interim (temporary) spousal support, you have to ask for permanent support in your court papers when you file for divorce. Interim support usually ends when you are divorced. But, if you are still arguing over your right to final periodic support, the temporary support can last for up to six months after the divorce.

You can get permanent spousal support only if you were not at fault, or did not cause your marriage to end. Usually, if you did not cheat on, abuse, or abandon (leave) your husband or wife, you can get temporary or permanent spousal support.

What Is Fault?

• The other spouse abandons (leaves) the home for one year and refuses to return.
• The other spouse has physically or sexually abused the spouse filing the divorce or a child of that spouse.
• The spouses has been living separate and apart continuously (without a break) without reconciliation (without making up) for a period of two years.
• Habitual intemperance (for example, drug use, alcoholism, gambling, and other ill treatment) that is so bad that the spouses cannot live together anymore.
• Adultery.
• Getting convicted of a felony.
• Being sent to prison at hard labor.

When you file for divorce, ask for both kinds of support, the temporary and permanent spousal support. You can also ask for permanent spousal support within three (3) years from the date of your Judgment of Divorce.

Where Do I Go To Get Spousal Support?

File a rule or a petition for divorce in a state district court in:

• the parish that you live in, or
• in the parish your ex-spouse lives in, or
• where you last lived together.

How Much Time Do I Have to Ask for Spousal Support?

You have three years to ask the court for spousal support, or to ask for help when spousal support is not being paid. This time starts from the day the Judgment of Divorce is signed, or the day a Judgment ending an earlier Judgment of Spousal Support is signed.

If your ex has stopped paying support, you also have three years from the day of the last payment of spousal support was made, to go back to court for help. You should be able to get help from Child Support Enforcement Services or the Department of Social Services can help you to get spousal support. Child Support Enforcement must help people with getting support. For more information, contact your local Child Support Enforcement Services Office.

How much spousal support the judge gives you depends on your income and the other spouse’s income. It cannot be more than 1/3 of the other spouse’s net income. Net income means gross income minus taxes and living expenses. For example, if your ex-husband makes $900.00 and child support and living expenses come to $600.00, you might get up to $300.00. But this does not mean you are going to get $300.00. How much you get is based on half of your monthly expenses while you were married.

How Do I Get More Spousal Support, or Get it Stopped?

You can ask the court to change the amount of spousal support if there is a "material change of circumstances" (this means, for example, that you don’t need the support anymore; you remarry or live together with a person of either sex as married persons do; or your ex dies).  It does not include your re-marriage if you are paying spousal support.

How Long Can I Keep Getting Spousal Support?

Spousal support will stop or end if the court finds you live with another person of either sex in the same manner as married persons; you don’t need the support anymore; or when your ex dies.

What If My Spouse Is Not Working? Can I Still Get Spousal Support?

If he is not working because he doesn’t want to work, the court will decide the amount of spousal support based on the income that he was making before he quit his job. Or, the court will look at his potential earning capacity (that is, his ability to earn money with his skills and level of education). Or, the court may decide the amount of support using mininum wage as his income.

You can’t get spousal support if the other spouse is disabled and cannot work. In fact, the other spouse may be able to get spousal support from you.