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Grounds for Spousal Maintenance

Quick Facts

Maintenance is based on need or hardship.
Maintenance is not a penalty.

In a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or legal separation, or in a proceeding for maintenance following dissolution of the marriage by a court that lacked personal jurisdiction over the absent spouse and has since acquired jurisdiction, the court may enter a maintenance order for either spouse if the court finds that the spouse seeking maintenance meets the following criteria:

The spouse lacks sufficient assets, including marital property allocated to the spouse, to provide for reasonable needs of the spouse in accordance with the standard of living the couple established during the marriage, especially a period of training or education; or
The spouse is unable to self-support adequately, after considering the standard of living the couple established during the marriage and all relevant circumstances, through suitable employment, or the spouse is the custodian of a child whose condition or situation make employment outside of the home impractical or impossible.