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Alimony Calculator Montana


A Short Introduction to Montana Alimony Calculators

What is an alimony calculator?

An alimony calculator, like a child support calculator, is meant estimate a person’s court-ordered payments. Unfortunately, alimony law  is much looser than child support law, especially in a state like Montana. That makes finding a Montana alimony calculator virtually impossible. However, with a little research and ingenuity, it’s possible to mimic the effectiveness of an alimony calculator for Montana.

What is an example of a Montana alimony calculator?

Though Montana gives too much discretion to judges to make an alimony calculator in Montana accurate, it is still possible estimate how much money will be requested by a spouse for alimony. Just follow this simple formula to make your own requested alimony calculator for Montana.

1. Deduce the joint married standard of living. Do this by estimating all costs incurred during a year of marriage, using the most recent whole year during which the couple cohabited. Make sure to subtract any costs incurred because of dependent children. The costs should come only from the spouses themselves.

2. Find the individual married standard of living. Simply divide the joint married standard of living in half. Of course, it can be much cheaper for two to live than one, but this is a rough estimate.

3. For the lower-income spouse, subtract their income from their individual married standard of living. If there’s a substantial positive difference, meaning their income is significantly lower than their individual married standard of living, the higher-income spouse will be asked to make up the difference in alimony payments.

4. To find the monthly alimony bill, simply divide by 12 the annual alimony check found in Step #3 as the difference between income and costs.

What factors should a Montana alimony calculator consider?

Remember that the Montana alimony calculator formula stated above is only an estimate of how much money might be requested by a spouse, and there’s no telling what sort-of Montana alimony calculator formula the judge might use in making a decision.

That said, Montana law stipulates the exact factors a judge is meant to consider in crafting an alimony order. Take all of these into account when estimating what your own alimony payment will be.

1. The financial resources of the lower-income spouse, including both property allotted as part of a settlement agreement and income from serving as the guardian of a minor child;

2. Whether further training or education is needed in order to join the workforce and support themselves independently;

3. What the joint married standard of living was;

4. How long the marriage lasted;

5. If the lower-income spouse is capable for finding employment because of age or a physical or mental disability;

6. Whether the higher-income spouse can adequately meet their own financial needs while paying for alimony for the other spouse.

The above factors are taken from Montana Code - Section 40 - Titles: 4-203. You can read the whole law here.

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