Yes. Again, this fact pattern is very similar to the previous fact pattern. What has to be put into place is the issue of maintenance, (maintenance is now what people traditionally know of as alimony) which is the one spouse who has the greater income, greater property value, or greater income earning potential would then be entitled to pay maintenance to the other spouse.
So, the spouse who did the lion’s share of the work staying home and taking care of the children in that sense, obviously that person has not obtained the education or doesn’t have the income potential of the other spouse, so this will be taken into account. Then the spouse with the higher income and the higher income potential will usually be assigned the responsibility of paying maintenance to the spouse who stayed home with the kids.
Sean Sullivan is a family lawyer practicing in the Elmhurst, Illinois area at the law offices of Laura M Urbik Kern, specializing in child custody and dissolution in divorce.
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