Pennsylvania law provides for three types of support for a dependent spouse.  Alimony is the term given to periodic financial support awarded at the end of a divorce case and intended to run at a designated amount and for a term of years.  Despite repeated efforts by the practicing bar, Pennsylvania’s legislature has refused to adopt any guidelines to assist practitioners, parties, and the courts in determining any type of uniformity in either the amount or the length (the term) of alimony awards.  As a result, alimony awards in Pennsylvania are all over the map.  For example, in Dauphin County when alimony is awarded it is usually awarded for a set amount and a for a set term.  However, the amounts and terms vary not only by the income of the payor and the needs of the recipient and the length of the marriage, but also by the whims of which divorce master or which judge is making the decision.  Generally speaking the longer the marriage the longer the term of alimony but there is no consistency in alimony awards even when comparing marriages of similar length and similar incomes.  In Cumberland County, almost all divorce cases, regardless of the length of the marriage, result in indefinite alimony.  In other words, the term of the alimony continues indefinitely until there is a major change of circumstance (such as retirement, disability, or remarriage) and thus couples otherwise similarly situated may end up with a longer term of alimony in Cumberland County than they would in one of the surrounding counties.  Generally, alimony orders are tax-deductible to the payor and taxable to the recipient (see taxability of support orders).

While there are no guidelines as to amount or term there are 17 factors as set forth by the legislature that the courts must consider when determining whether alimony should be awarded and in what amount and for how long.  These include the length of the marriage, the income of the parties, the needs of the recipient, whether there are minor children, the time needed for a dependent spouse to obtain reasonable employment, the perquisites or extra employment benefits that one spouse may have (health insurance, pension, expense reimbursement), the tax treatment of any award, etc., etc.  Most of the mandated factors lend some assistance to the courts in determining whether or not to award alimony in the first place but give little assistance in determining the amount or the duration, hence the vast inconsistency in alimony awards.

Spousal Support/APL

Where alimony is a post-divorce remedy, a dependent spouse is also entitled to interim support during the pendency of the divorce action, as well as before any divorce action is commenced but after the couple separates.  Interim support can take the form of either “spousal support” or “alimony pendente lite” (“APL” for short).  A dependent spouse can get one or the other but not both; moreover, they are computed in exactly the same way.  The difference between spousal support and APL is procedural in nature and sometimes there are tactical reasons to seek one rather than the other or try to defend against one but not defend against the other.  Such tactical decisions are beyond the scope of this article.

Where post-divorce alimony has no guidelines for amount or term, interim support is for a set term (it generally ends at the time of the divorce decree or the divorce agreement).  The amount of interim of support is very rigidly determined by a mandated formula.  The formula is based upon the net monthly incomes of the parties.  The formula itself is simple: the dependent spouse gets 40% of the difference in the parties’ net incomes, or, if there are minor children, 30% of the difference in net incomes after subtracting the child support from the payor’s income.  There are factors that permit the court to deviate from this formula, but deviation is quite rare.  While the rigidity of this approach can be harsh in some cases, it does allow the parties and their lawyers to very quickly determine what the depended spouse is likely to get or the independent spouse is likely to pay.  The existence of the child support guidelines and the formula for interim spousal support/APL has greatly reduced litigation in these areas.

However, as in child support, the most difficult issue is often in determining the income of the payor spouse.  This is easy to determine when the payor has a salaried job but can be quite difficult when the payor owns a business.