In a different blog, I wrote on the topic of the duration of “transitional” (previously known as “temporary”) spousal maintenance. There is now a rebuttable presumption in the law that if your marriage is between 5 and 20 years, the outer limit of any spousal obligation is half the length of the marriage.
But if your marriage is more than 20 years, any spousal maintenance obligation owed is presumptively an “indefinite” (previously known as “permanent”) obligation. Unlike transitional spousal maintenance, if you owe indefinite spousal maintenance, there is no defined end date in the divorce decree.
So, does spousal maintenance ever end if the obligation is indefinite? Can you ever retire and stop the obligation?
This is a sticky issue. For years, there has been a chicken-and-the-egg problem with retirement and spousal maintenance in Minnesota courts. Spousal maintenance obligors nearing retirement age naturally wanted to eliminate their spousal maintenance obligation before they felt like they could comfortably retire. So, they would bring a motion to terminate maintenance and then hopefully retire if the motion was granted. But, the response from the Court to these motions was often “You’re not yet retired. Your retirement is speculative. Come back when you’re retired.”
This effectively meant that a spousal maintenance obligor was required to first retire – while they still owed spousal maintenance – then bring a motion to terminate and cross their fingers that the motion would be granted. Otherwise, they may have to reconsider retirement.
That didn’t seem right. As a result, last year the legislature made changes to the spousal maintenance statute. The statute now recognizes retirement as a basis to modify spousal maintenance and provides factors the Court is to consider in response to motions to modify spousal maintenance on the basis of retirement (too much detail for this blog). It also dealt with the chicken-and-the-egg problem and now allows the obligor to bring the motion before they actually retire.
Another change is that the statute now creates a presumption that if qualified for full Social Security benefits, a party will use both income and assets to meet their needs (sounds like common sense but this provision was necessary to address some counterintuitive case law on this issue – a topic for another blog).
Of course, retirement-and-spousal-maintenance-modification is decided on a case-by-case basis and on the unique facts of each individual case. Just because you retire, it doesn’t always follow that you automatically get to modify spousal maintenance. But we at least now have some guidance from the legislature. Time will tell how this plays out in the courts.
Meet Marc Beyer
Marc Beyer practices in all areas of family law, including divorce, child custody, parenting time, child support, spousal maintenance, and property division. Marc’s philosophy is to negotiate the best settlement possible, but he is prepared to go to trial when necessary. Recognizing that every situation is unique, Marc takes pride in listening to his client’s concerns, and creates goals, expectations, and case strategy for the client accordingly.
Contact Beyer & Simonson
If you are facing divorce and any of the divorce-related issues such as spousal maintenance, child support, child custody, property division, or domestic abuse matters, you need our experienced Minneapolis divorce attorneys to help you. Contact Beyer & Simonson in Edina, Minnesota today at (952) 303-6007.
