Alimony/Spousal Support

This will be a very basic, general discussion of spousal support or alimony under Iowa law. Entire books could be written on the subject, so the focus here is simply the types of spousal support that Iowa recognizes and the factors used to determine whether it is appropriate in any given case.


There are three types of spousal support recognized in Iowa. The first, and most well-known, is traditional alimony. This type of alimony is based upon the idea that one spouse is not capable of becoming self-supporting, and therefore entails payments for the life of the non-supporting party. In my experience, this type of spousal support is typically awarded where the non-supporting party has either been a stay-at-home parent for a very long time, or has a disability that prevents him or her from working.


The second type of alimony is rehabilitative alimony. Here, the receiving spouse is provided support for a limited period of time, in order to allow that spouse to be re-educated or re-trained to enter the job market and become self-supporting. I have seen this type of spousal support most often in cases where a spouse has stayed home with the children for a shorter term, but has worked in the past or could work fairly easily in the future. For instance, this type of spousal support would be helpful where the mother has been at home with the child for the last four years, but prior to that time, worked as a teacher. A shorter period of alimony will allow her to regain her license and find a job, but she would ultimately be capable of earning her own living.


The final type of spousal support is reimbursement. This allows the receiving spouse to obtain payment as a way to share in the other spouse's future earnings. In my experience, this is the most rare type of spousal support, but is intended for situations where one spouse helps the other  become a high earning worker, such as supporting him or her through medical school, without realizing the return thereon. 


Even though Iowa law carefully outlines these types of spousal support and the circumstances appropriate for each, Iowa law does not strictly adhere to the titles or categories. Therefore, a judge can order spousal support of any kind, any duration, or any hybrid thereof, if the circumstances warrant.


Iowa Code 598.21A outlines the factors to consider in determining whether spousal support is appropriate, and how much to award. These factors include:

1. The length of the marriage
2. The age and physical and emotional health of the parties
3. The property distribution [including if inequities still exist after the division]
4. The educational level of each party at the time of marriage, and now
5. The earning capacity of each party, including all factors such as work history, children in care, absence from the job market, and need for re-training before working
6. The ability of the party seeking support to become self-supporting at the standard of living during the marriage, and how long it would take to do so
7. Tax consequences to either party
8. Any agreement between the parties, such as future compensation or reciprocity for support of the other spouse during the marriage
9. Any prenuptial/antenuptial agreement
10. Any other relevant factors

As you can imagine, these factors make it very difficult to determine whether spousal support will be awarded in a case, including how much and for how long, without evaluating each case independently. Therefore, analysis of each case is very important on its own facts and circumstances.