What length of time is customary for spousal support in New Mexico?

Answer 1

New Mexico laws allow the court to order spousal support to be paid in the following ways:

1. Rehabilitative support that provides the receiving spouse with education, training, work experience or some other rehabilitation to increase that spouse's ability to earn income and become self-supporting;

2. Transitional spousal support to supplement the income of the receiving spouse for a limited period of time;

3. A single sum to be paid in one or more installments.

When making determinations concerning spousal support to be awarded, the court shall consider:

(1) the age and health of and the means of support for the respective spouses;

(2) the current and future earnings and the earning capacity of the respective spouses;

(3) the good-faith efforts of the respective spouses to maintain employment or to become self-supporting;

(4) the reasonable needs of the respective spouses, including:

(a) the standard of living of the respective spouses during the term of the marriage;

(b) the maintenance of medical insurance for the respective spouses; and

(c) the appropriateness of life insurance, including its availability and cost, insuring the life of the person who is to pay support to secure the payments, with any life insurance proceeds paid on the death of the paying spouse to be in lieu of further support;

(5) the duration of the marriage;

(6) the amount of the property awarded or confirmed to the respective spouses;

(7) the type and nature of the respective spouses' assets; provided that potential proceeds from the sale of property by either spouse shall not be considered by the court, unless required by exceptional circumstances and the need to be fair to the parties;

(8) the type and nature of the respective spouses' liabilities;

(9) income produced by property owned by the respective spouses; and

(10) agreements entered into by the spouses in contemplation of the dissolution of marriage or legal separation.

An award of spousal support shall terminate upon the death of the receiving spouse, unless the court order provides otherwise.

40-4-7 of the New Mexico Statutes.