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Alimony Calculator Oklahoma


A Short Introduction to Oklahoma Alimony Calculators

What is an Oklahoma Alimony Calculator?

An alimony calculator is meant to assist attorneys and their clients in estimating a judge’s alimony orders. To be accurate, alimony calculators must be used in states with strict alimony guidelines, so that there is a fixed formula for the calculator. 

Unfortunately, Oklahoma state law does not have any hard and fast alimony guidelines on the book, which make most Oklahoma alimony calculators inaccurate. But a little research into state practices will allow you to imitate a useful Oklahoma alimony calculator.

Part 1: A Requested Alimony Calculator for Oklahoma

The following is a rough requested alimony calculator for Oklahoma, which means it is meant to approximate how much a spouse’s attorneys will request in alimony. Takes its results with a grain of salt, but in some cases it is a useful tool when used with other legal resources.

Step #1: Calculate the joint marital standard of living cost. Do this by adding all the costs attributed to the married couple during their last year of marriage. Costs include things like housing, food and clothing. Ignore any time spent living separately, which may mean backtracking more than a year depending on how long the couple as been separated. Also ignore any costs attributable to a minor child or dependent adult.

Step #2: Calculate the individual marital standard of living cost. Simply divide the answer to Step #1 in half. It will cost somewhat more for one individual to live at a set standard of living than for two individuals on a per capita basis, so this is a rough estimate only.

Step #3: Subtract the income of the lower-income spouse from the individual marital standard of living cost. Assuming the number is positive, this represents the figure that will keep the individual spouse from living at their individual marital standard of living. Their spouse will likely be asked to contribute a comparable amount in alimony annually.

Step #4: Simply divide the annual alimony award by twelve to get the monthly award.

Modifications to an Oklahoma Alimony Calculator

No matter what Oklahoma alimony calculator your judge decides to use, or what factors the judge considers, an Oklahoma alimony order will an end. Oklahoma Statute Title 43 Sections 121-134 discuss the situations under which an alimony order may be terminated.

First, very few Oklahoma alimony calculators estimate permanent alimony. Most orders are active for a fraction of the period of the marriage, usually 1/2 to 1/3, with longer duration the longer the marriage lasted. Permanent alimony orders are usually only relevant in the dissolution of marriages 20 years or more. These alimony orders are only terminated at the time of one spouse’s death.

Most orders are subject to be terminated at the time that the recipient spouse joins in cohabitation with another person, regardless of whether they are married. The payor spouse is allowed to show evidence in a court to this affect.

Changes in the incomes either the payor or the recipient spouse are also grounds for a change in alimony orders.

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