Spousal Support and Entitlement Defenses in Pennsylvania
Spousal Support in Pennsylvania is the amount paid to a dependent spouse to assure that person has a reasonable living allowance, or money to provide for living expenses. In Pennsylvania, spousal support is the title for support paid before a divorce complaint is filed. When an initial spousal support claim is filed, the parties go to a support conference.
The parties are ordered by the court to bring their most recent tax return, recent 1099, the preceding six months of pay-stubs, proof of medical insurance, proof of medical disability (if unable to work) to the support conference and complete the expense inventory contained with the court notice. The support conference officer uses a system to run both parties incomes in accordance with the Pennsylvania support guidelines and determines a number for support.
If one party has been paying support to the dependent spouse from the date of the filing of the support complaint to the date of the support conference, then they should provide proof of the monthly amount of payments to the dependent spouse at the support conference.
There are “entitlement defenses” to spousal support, which means that the party who would otherwise be ordered to pay spousal support will not have to pay if one of the entitlement defenses applies. They are: Lack of Entitlement due to a Defective Marriage, Marital Misconduct, Condonation, Indignities, Lack of Need, Voluntary Withdrawal from the Marital Residence without Adequate Cause.
To learn more about spousal support and/or possible entitlement defenses, please schedule with a family law attorney by calling 215-774-1149 or emailing us at contact@thefamilylawcorp.com.
