00:04
so as you know
00:05
spousal maintenance in texas is akin to
00:08
alimony and i say akin because it’s not
00:10
the exact same thing
00:12
alimony is not a given as a matter of
00:14
fact the presumption is that
00:16
you’re not going to get it okay you have
00:18
to prove
00:19
uh that you’ve been married for 10 years
00:22
and you
00:22
are not going to get enough out of
00:26
the property division of the divorce to
00:28
meet your minimum reasonable
00:30
needs right so what is minimum
00:33
reasonable needs well that’s incredibly
00:35
subjective
00:35
but what it is not it is not maintaining
00:39
you
00:39
at the standard of living to which you
00:41
were accustomed during marriage that’s
00:44
the area where texas is very just very
00:47
different
00:48
and also the presumption is that it
00:51
should be
00:51
for the least amount of time possible
00:55
so the amount of time that you are
00:57
eligible for
00:58
is going to be dependent on how long you
01:01
have been married
01:02
so it could be a few years it could be
01:05
five years it could be 10 years
01:07
but the presumption is that even if you
01:10
could be entitled to 10 years
01:12
under the statute that the court should
01:14
award
01:15
the least amount of that possible to
01:18
meet your minimum reasonable needs so it
01:20
is more of a
01:21
rehabilitation statute than a
01:24
maintaining you know what your level
01:27
of living was prior to divorce