Spousal Support and Child Support: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
25 flashcard terms for Family Law Topic 5, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 15-question quiz — free, no account needed.
Indefinite support paid until death or remarriage, reserved chiefly for long marriages where a dependent spouse cannot realistically become self-supporting.
Rehabilitative alimony
Time-limited support funding education or retraining so the recipient can enter the workforce, the most common modern award in short and middle-length marriages.
Reimbursement alimony
Compensates a spouse for concrete contributions to the other's earning capacity, such as tuition and living expenses during professional school, and is usually nonmodifiable.
Limited duration alimony
Support for a fixed term reflecting the length of the marriage where no retraining is needed but an economic adjustment period is appropriate.
Lump sum alimony
A fixed total obligation payable at once or in installments, vesting on entry and generally immune from modification or termination on remarriage.
Alimony pendente lite
Temporary support ordered while the divorce is pending to maintain the status quo and enable the dependent spouse to litigate on equal footing.
Marital standard of living
A central statutory factor measuring the lifestyle the couple enjoyed, used as a benchmark rather than a guarantee given the cost of two households.
Imputed income
Earnings attributed to a voluntarily unemployed or underemployed party based on capacity, work history, and local opportunities, preventing shirking of support duties.
Orr v. Orr
Struck a statute permitting alimony awards against husbands only, holding that gender-based classifications in support law violate equal protection.
Modification for changed circumstances
Alimony and support may be altered on a substantial, continuing, and unanticipated change in the parties' financial or personal situations.
Anticipated change doctrine
A change the parties clearly foresaw at the time of the decree, such as a scheduled retirement date, generally will not justify modification.
Voluntary reduction in income
A good faith career change may support modification, while a reduction taken to escape an obligation will lead the court to base the award on prior earnings.
Escalator clause
A settlement provision automatically adjusting support with the payor's income or a price index, sparing the parties repeated modification litigation.
Income shares model
The dominant child support formula estimating what intact-family parents would spend on the child and prorating that figure by each parent's share of combined income.
Percentage of obligor income model
A simpler guideline setting support as a fixed share of the noncustodial parent's income, varying with the number of children and ignoring the other parent's income.
Melson formula
A hybrid guideline used in a few states that reserves each parent a self-support allowance, funds the child's primary needs, then adds a standard of living adjustment.
Rebuttable presumption of guideline amount
Federal law requires states to presume the guideline figure is correct, allowing deviation only with written findings explaining why it would be unjust.
Extraordinary expenses add-on
Health insurance, uninsured medical costs, work-related child care, and sometimes private school or special needs costs added to the base guideline award.
Shared parenting time credit
A guideline adjustment reducing the obligation when the payor exceeds a threshold share of overnights, reflecting duplicated household costs.
Duty to support to majority
Support ordinarily runs until age eighteen or high school completion, with statutes in some states extending it for disabled adult children or college costs.
Post-majority educational support
A minority of states authorize orders for college expenses, and settlement agreements may contractually create the duty even where statutes cannot.
UIFSA continuing exclusive jurisdiction
Under the interstate support act, the issuing state retains sole power to modify its order while the obligor, obligee, or child still resides there.
UIFSA registration for enforcement
An out-of-state support order may be registered in the responding state, which then enforces it under local procedures without altering its terms.
Income withholding order
The primary federal enforcement tool, requiring employers to deduct support from wages immediately and remit it to the state disbursement unit.
Civil contempt for nonpayment
Coercive incarceration or fines for willful failure to pay, requiring proof of present ability to comply, since inability is a complete defense.