Spousal Support

As with the issue of property and debt distribution, District Courts are required to consider guidelines when considering spousal support. Thus, the Court is to consider such factors as:

• Respective ages of the parties;
•  Their respective earning ability;
• Duration of the marriage;
• Conduct of each during the marriage;
• The parties' "station in life";
• Circumstances and necessities of each;
• Health and physical condition;
• Financial circumstances as shown by property, its value, and income producing capacity, and whether accumulated or acquired before or after marriage;
• Other matters

Thus, by the plain language of this standard, the same five considerations identified above as germane to property distributions are likewise relevant to awards of spousal support.

However, there are additional considerations as well. For example, it must be remembered that permanent support is not limited to a spouse who is incapable of any rehabilitation...but may also be awarded to a spouse incapable of adequate rehabilitation or self-support.

Likewise, an endless stream of North Dakota cases holds that, where possible, one of the trial Court's goals should be to help the parties maintain the same standard of living after the divorce as was maintained during the marriage. Certainly, in most cases, it is difficult or impossible for divorced spouses to maintain the marital standard of living. In such cases, the Supreme Court has instructed trial Courts to fashion Judgments requiring the parties to share fairly equally in the reduced standard of living. Spousal support must be fashioned so that the parties "share the pain" and live to similar standards.