Bolingbrook Alimony Lawyer

What Spousal Maintenance Actually Looks Like in Illinois

Illinois doesn't call it alimony anymore, it's "maintenance," and it's not something every divorce includes. A judge only awards it if one spouse genuinely needs financial support and the other has the ability to pay, so it's never automatic just because a marriage is ending. When maintenance is on the table, most cases with a combined income under $500,000 follow a set formula: 33.3% of the paying spouse's net income minus 25% of the receiving spouse's, with a cap so the recipient never ends up with more than 40% of the couple's combined income. How long payments last usually ties back to how long you were married, longer marriages generally mean longer support. One thing worth knowing if you're dealing with a case that involves incarceration: a 2025 change to Illinois law removed the old rule that paused maintenance while the paying spouse was locked up, so those payments now keep accruing as a debt. It's a small detail, but it's exactly the kind of thing that trips people up if they're working off outdated information.

Why Bolingbrook Clients Bring Us Into These Cases

Maintenance cases are rarely just about plugging numbers into a formula. Judges look at the full picture, income, the standard of living during the marriage, whether one spouse put a career on hold to raise kids or support the household, and more. We help you build the case for what you actually need, or push back when a request seems inflated. If you're the one who may end up paying, we make sure the numbers reflect your real financial picture, not an inflated estimate. And if your case involves a higher combined income or other factors that pull it outside the standard formula, we know how to argue that side too. Whichever side of the table you're on, our job is to make sure the outcome is grounded in your actual circumstances.

Getting the Details Right the First Time

A maintenance order isn't something you want to get wrong out of the gate. It affects your monthly budget for years, and unwinding a bad agreement later is far harder than negotiating a fair one up front. We help clients gather the right financial documentation, understand how the formula applies (and when it doesn't), and think through how maintenance interacts with other parts of the divorce, like property division or child support. If circumstances change down the road, a job loss, a big raise, remarriage, we can also help you revisit an existing order. Bring us your numbers and your questions, and we'll help you see exactly where you stand.