In Maine, assets and debts acquired during your marriage - called "marital property" - will be divided "equitably" when you divorce. Marital property is divided in proportions that the court considers just after considering all relevant factors, including:
- Contribution of each spouse to the acquisition of the marital property, including the contribution of a spouse as homemaker
- Value of separate property
- Economic circumstances of each spouse at the time the division of property is to become effective, including the desirability of awarding the family home or the right to live in the home for reasonable periods to the spouse having custody of the children
"Separate property" is retained by the owning spouse. Separate property includes the following:
- Assets you had before you married if you kept that property separated from property acquired during the marriage
- The income produced by a separate property investment as long as it hasn't been "commingled" - mixed together with marital property
- Property you inherit from your family during your marriage if it was willed exclusively to you and you did not commingle it with marital property during the marriage
It is important to collect all the information you can about all your property, including when you purchased it, approximately how much it is worth and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. Collecting this information before you see a Maine divorce lawyer
can save you a lot of time and money.
Alimony
Alimony or spousal support is support paid by one spouse to the other spouse. A court can order alimony to either party in Maine. The award may be for general support, transitional support, reimbursement support, nominal support or interim support. General support is awarded to provide financial assistance to a spouse with substantially less income potential than the other spouse. Transitional support is awarded to provide for a spouse's transitional needs. Reimbursement support is awarded to achieve an equitable result in the overall dissolution of the spouses' financial relationship where there are exceptional circumstances. Nominal support is awarded to preserve the court's authority to grant spousal support in the future. Interim support is awarded to provide for a spouse's support during the time of the divorce action.
The court considers the following factors when determining an award of spousal support:
- The length of the marriage
- Ability of each spouse to pay
- Age of each spouse
- Employment history and employment potential of each spouse
- Income history and income potential of each spouse
- Education and training of each spouse
- Provisions for retirement and health insurance benefits of each spouse
- Tax consequences of the division of marital property
- Health and disabilities of each spouse
- Tax consequences of a spousal support award
- Contribution of either party as homemaker
- Contributions of either spouse to the education or earning potential of the other spouse
- Standard of living of the spouses during the marriage
- Ability of the spouse seeking support to become self-supporting within a reasonable period of time
- Effect of income from property or child support on a spouse's ability to pay spousal support
Spousal support may be modified if it appears that justice requires a modification unless the order awarding support states that the award is not subject to modification. Spousal support automatically ends when either of the parties dies or when the party receiving the spousal support remarries.
Child Custody and Visitation
Maine now uses the term parental rights and responsibilities instead of custody to describe the relationship of divorced parents to their children. Parental rights and responsibilities include such things as where the child will live, educational issues, religious upbringing, medical care and travel boundaries. The court will base its decision on the best interest of the child with great weight being given to the preference of a teenage child.
If the parents agree to an award of shared parental rights and responsibilities, the court will make that award unless there is substantial evidence that it should not be ordered. If the parents do not have an agreement, the court may order shared or sole parental rights and responsibilities according to the best interest of the child.
An award of shared parental rights and responsibilities may include either an allocation of the child's primary residential care to one parent and rights of parent-child contact (visitation) to the other parent, or a sharing of the child's primary residential care by both parents. The court may not prefer one parent over the other in determining parental rights and responsibilities because of the parent's gender or the child's age or gender.
In making an award of parental rights and responsibilities, the court will consider the following factors:
- Age of the child
- Relationship of the child with the child's parents and any other persons who may significantly affect the child's welfare
- Preference of the child, if old enough to express a meaningful preference
- Duration and adequacy of the child's current living arrangements and the desirability of maintaining continuity
- Stability of any proposed living arrangements for the child
- Motivation of the parties involved and their capacities to give the child love, affection and guidance
- Child's adjustment to the child's present home, school and community
- Capacity of each parent to allow and encourage frequent and continuing contact between the child and the other parent
- Capacity of each parent to cooperate or to learn to cooperate in child care
- Methods for assisting parental cooperation and resolving disputes and each parent's willingness to use those methods
- Effect on the child if one parent has sole authority over the child's upbringing
- Existence of domestic abuse between the parents
- Existence of any history of child abuse by a parent
- Other factors having a reasonable bearing on physical and psychological well-being of the child
- A parent's prior willful misuse of the protection from abuse process in order to gain tactical advantage in a proceeding involving the determination of parental rights and responsibilities of a minor child
- If the child is under one year of age, whether the child is being breast-fed
- Existence of a parent's conviction for a sex offense
Either one or both parents may file a petition with the court to modify or terminate an order for parental rights and responsibilities where there has been a substantial change in circumstances. The relocation, or an intended relocation, of the child to another state or more than 60 miles from the parent who is not relocating as well as domestic violence are each considered a substantial change in circumstances.
Child Support
In Maine, child support is set by the court and based on guidelines. Child support may be made payable weekly, monthly or quarterly. Either spouse may show why the application of the guidelines would be unfair in their situation. Child support ends at age 18 unless the child has not graduated from high school. In that case, it will end then the child graduates or reaches 18, whichever comes first. A child support order may be modified if there has been a substantial change in circumstances.
Related Web Links:
- Maine Judicial Branch
- Maine Family Matters Forms
- Maine Domestic Relations
- Maine Child Support Guidelines
- Maine Child Support
- Maine State Profile
- Family Law: Selecting a Good Lawyer
- Divorce - General message board for more help