When one is heading for divorce; they need to find answers about spousal support. In most marriages, the chances are that one partner is financially stable than their counterpart. It is common to find one spouse working in a high paying job while the other is taking care of the children back at home. The source of wealth could be from a family or from wealthy relatives. In times of divorce, getting spousal support tend to be a challenge as one spouse may want the higher earning spouse to pay the other monthly support. The essence of this article is to discuss whether one can waive their right to spousal support in Washington state.
It is worth noting that regardless of a spouse’s financial situation, Washington is a community property state, which means that the marital estate is split fairly between the two spouses in the event of a divorce. By marital property we mean assets that includes all income earned by a husband or wife during the marriage, all property acquired with a spouse’s income during the marriage, and any property acquired with joint or marital funds during the marriage.
A lower-earning spouse may request the judge to order the higher earning spouse to pay them spousal maintenance. If you are finding it hard understanding the spousal maintenance; you can compare them to the child support payments; however, the difference here is that the spousal maintenance are directed to spouses, unlike the child payments which are paid to cater for the needs of a child. It is worth noting that the law also allows spouses to agree to give up their right to receive spousal maintenance payments.
One of the ways in which a spouse can waive their right to spousal support is by creating pre and post-nuptial agreements. The agreements are vital since they outline what each spouse is entitled to in the event that the marriage should end. In most divorce cases, the court will generally allow a spouse to waive his or her right to support so long as the waiver is made knowingly, willingly, and without duress or intimidation. For the court to approve the waiver, it needs to made in writing, and must be signed by both parties. For the waiver to be valid, you also need to have a lawyer who will explain the agreement to the person signing up his or her rights, and the waiver should include a listing of each of the parties’ assets, debts, and income.
Both spouses need to see the waiver to be fair to both of them for it to be passed. It is the duty of the court to ensure both parties agree to the terms; this is vital to avoid the cases where one spouse is left with noting while providing the needs of the others.