How To Stop Paying Spousal Support

If you went through a divorce in the past and have been paying spousal support to your ex-spouse for many years, you might reach a point where you really want to put this to an end. Spousal support is usually considered a temporary thing, but it will take getting a court order before you can legally stop paying it. Here are a few things to know if you want to stop paying the spousal support the court ordered you to pay years ago.

Look at your court documents

There are times when courts will include a date for spousal support to end in the divorce decree. If your divorce decree gives a date, you would have an easy time ending the spousal support payments if you have reached this date. For example, if your divorce decree was dated March 13, 2015, and it stated that you must pay spousal support for four years, you could end the payments on March 13, 2019. You likely would not even need a court order to end these payments, as the decree would already state that the payments would be ending at this time.

Prove that your ex no longer needs the money

If your papers do not have a date on them, you could consider trying to end the spousal support payments by proving that your ex no longer needs this money. If your ex attended college during the last few years, earned a degree, and now has a great job, you could petition the court to end the payments due to the changes that have occurred over the past few years. If your ex is now able to support him or herself through this new college degree, the court might agree that you no longer should have to pay the spousal support to him or her.

There are other situations that you could use as reasons to stop paying this, too. For example, maybe the money was designed to help keep your children in a nice home. If they are now through college and moved out, you could use this as a reason to stop the payments.

File a petition

Hiring a family lawyer for help with this is the best option that you have if you would like to end the spousal support payments that you are paying. The lawyer you hire will file a petition with the court, and this will give you an opportunity to explain to the court why you would like these payments to end. If the judge agrees with you, he or she will order the payments to end and you can stop making them.

For more information, contact a family law attorney.

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