Spousal Support and Maintenance

By operation of law, spousal support and maintenance awards terminate upon the death of either party, the remarriage of the maintenance recipient, or the recipient holding him or herself out as the spouse of the another person even though not actually married.  Temporary maintenance and spousal support obligations terminate with the entry of a Judgment of Divorce.  For post-divorce obligations, there may be other conditions stated in the settlement or trial decision which result in the termination of maintenance, such as a certain date, age, or number of payments made.

In certain circumstances, post-divorce maintenance can be modified (upward or downward) or terminated early if one party can demonstrate that the continuation of the existing obligation would cause an extreme hardship.  In practice, this is a very difficult standard to meet and maintenance modification applications are rarely granted.