What Happens to my Spousal/Child Support if I Remarry?

When you divorce, if you lack the means to support yourself because you’ve been dependent on your ex-, it’s common for the court to set up a spousal support (alimony) payment from your ex- to you every month. Similarly, if you lack the means to support a minor child you have custody of, child support payments will be set up to ensure the other parent contributes.

Spousal and child support payments are supposed to adapt as your (and their) circumstances change — if you get a higher-paying job, if they lose their job, whatever happens will theoretically be reflected by a modification to the payments. But the reality is that often, relatively minor or temporary changes are ignored simply because it’s kind of a pain to get a spousal support order modified. But when you remarry, that’s an event that it’s impossible for the court to not respond to.

Spousal Support: It’s Gone (Usually)
Spousal Support agreements in Michigan are, by default, set to terminate upon the death or remarriage of the person receiving the payments. The assumption is that they are going to be able to rely on their new partner for the kind of financial support they once received from the old partner. It would be a fairly unusual circumstance where a judge was convinced to structure a Spousal Support agreement such that it remained in effect after the recipient remarried.

In order for a Spousal Support order to survive remarriage, both of the divorcees would have to agree to one of:

• A standard Spousal Support arrangement that, with the agreement of both divorcees, specifically includes a clause stating that the arrangement does not terminate upon remarriage,
• A ‘non-modifiable’ Spousal Support arrangement, that prevents either spouse from filing a request to have the Spousal Support changed to reflect shifting life circumstances (including remarriage),
• A ‘rehabilitative’ Spousal Support arrangement, which is a temporary form of support paid with the expectation that the recipient will work hard to become financially independent, and pays for their expenses during that process regardless of their marital state, or
• A ‘reimbursement’ Spousal Support arrangement, which continues regardless of circumstances until the recipient has been reimbursed for a specific, known expense. For example, if you paid for your ex- to get through medical school and then divorced shortly after they graduated, you could request that your ex- reimburse you for the cost of that schooling. Because the payments are fixed to a specific amount, they would continue even if you remarried.

Child Support: It’s Complicated
Child Support agreements, however, are not dependent on the marital status of the recipient, because they’re not intended to allow the child to re-establish themselves as independent financially self-supporting entities. That’s just not something we care to burden children with. But they are intended to be modified as the financial circumstances of the father and mother change.

Getting remarried almost always represents a change in the financial circumstances of the recipient, if for no other reason than that your Spousal Support generally goes away, and your income is also generally modified by your new spouse’s place in your life. Notice, however, that this doesn’t always mean the change is positive — it is entirely possible to marry a deadbeat, lose your Spousal Support hile gaining a dependent, and end up applying to receive more Child Support than you did previously.

Speaking of applying, it’s worthy of note that none of these changes to Child/Spousal Support payments happen automatically; either you or your ex- have to ask the court for them. If your circumstances have changed, due to remarriage or for any other reason, consult Gucciardo Family Law today — we can help get your new circumstances accounted for quickly and accurately.