Alimony in Nevada
Alimony is monies paid to a spouse after a divorce or during a legal separation. Nevada is a no-fault state for divorce. This means that the plaintiff does not need to prove fault in the defendant and alimony will not be affected by any misconduct. Alimony is also separate from any property settlements. Only a state court has jurisdiction over a divorce. There is no specific calculator that can be used to determine the amount a spouse will receive. The court will have to determine a fair amount for alimony, taking into consideration a number of conditions prior to making a judgement.
There are four different types of alimony. The first is temporary maintenance which is paid out during a legal separation until a divorce has been finalized. Temporary maintenance is not automatically issued during divorce proceedings. Instead the spouse seeking the alimony must file a motion for the support. The second is rehabilitative alimony which is paid to the spouse to go through the necessary training or education for a job or profession. This type of alimony is normally paid out to the spouse that was previously the stay-at-home parent. The third type is temporary alimony which will be paid after the divorce has been finalized for a period of time that the judge will determine. The last type is permanent alimony which is paid out until the receiving spouse dies or remarries.
Per Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 125.150 any imbalances between the plaintiff and defendant’s income and the standard of living the couple has been accustomed to must also be taken into consideration. A judge will also consider a spouse’s need for financial support due to health, training needed to get back into the work force, the career each spouse had prior to the marriage, the age and education of both parties, the ability to pay alimony, and if one spouse helped advance the other’s career.
One of the other conditions a judge will consider, is the length of the marriage. If the marriage lasted less than three years alimony will not be an option. If the marriage lasted between three years and twenty then alimony can be granted for up to half of the time the marriage lasted. If the marriage lasted more than twenty years, then permanent alimony is highly likely. An order for alimony can be modified if there is a 20 percent or higher income change for the paying spouse.