Is it worth going to court for $500 difference in temporary SS

#1

My husband (25 year marriage) is agreeing to give $500 less than what the dissomaster reading (I had a lawyer run it for me) is coming up with. Is it worth filing in the court for this difference or should I accept it to keep things out of court. We both are working to divide the assets 50-50 and there are only a few charges which we will ask lawyers or court to help us with if we can’t agree on ourselves.
Two thoughts:

  1. Negative: I’ve heard that permanent alimony is mostly less than temporary alimony number and if I accept $500/month less for Temp alimony then I may end up receiving a lower number for permanent alimony.
  2. Positive: It will save me lawyer fee and money to not file. I am not sure how expensive it can get once I file in the court for a temporary SS number.
#2

I can’t really answer your question directly, since I don’t have much in the way of context, but here are some general comments.

  1. I can generally say that “permanent alimony” is almost always less that “temporary alimony.” That said, there is a world of difference between “$8000 vs $7500” and “$1000 vs $500” when it comes to “$500 less.”

  2. Temporary spousal support is usually straightforward and based on the DissoMaster calculation (although some counties are known to deviate). In other words, if you were to go to Court, it’s more than likely you’ll get what the Court finds to be an accurate DissoMaster calculation (which may or may not be what the lawyer ran).

  3. Temporary spousal support, if not based on the DissoMaster calculation, should NOT necessarily have an impact on permanent support. I wouldn’t even say that temporary support impacts permanent support. It’s more of an issue that guideline (DissoMaster) support is usually higher than permanent support.

  4. If the idea is to move through the divorce as quickly as possible, the issue of temporary spousal support is a lot less important than permanent spousal support. In other words, while temporary spousal support lasts for years in some contested cases, temporary support might only last a few months in cases that settle quickly. Therefore, there is always a cost-benefit analysis to be done - is it worth going to court to get extra money for a few months? Or is this more of a situation where the temporary support has the potential to last for the rest of this year? Take the $500 difference and multiply it out by the number of months you expect temporary support - that’s the monetary benefit. The cost is the attorney fees, the time off of work, the emotional drain on going to court, etc.

  5. Because I don’t know what the $500 difference represents, I don’t know if that amount really affects you or not. For higher support payments (i.e. $8000 vs $7500), that of course has an impact, but not as big of an impact as $1000 vs $500. For the latter situation, that’s the difference between a studio and a 1 bedroom apartment, or a car payment, etc. You have to view this offer through this lens - what are you going to have to sacrifice with the lesser amount? Will that impact your ability to meet your basic living expenses in a significant way?

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