Alimony Foreign Spouse In Washington
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A court in Washington State will usually a) award each party his or her own separate property and b) divide the net value of the parties' community property 50/50. This means the husband keeps what he brought to the marriage, the wife keeps what she brought, and the rest gets split between them equally.
That said, Washington will generally recognize a foreign divorce under the legal principal of comity, assuming certain conditions are met. For example, if the parties live in Canada but they file for and obtain a divorce in Mexico, a Washington court will very likely not recognize the Mexican divorce.
Countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and the U.K. regularly work with U.S. courts to enforce alimony orders across international borders. However, enforcing an international alimony order may take more time than enforcing a domestic one.
In essence, the court first looks at the economic need of the party seeking spousal support. The court measures this need by comparing the monthly income of the person seeking alimony with their monthly expenses. The shortfall between a party's income and their expenses is that party's economic need.
Washington state is different, and judges calculate alimony on a case-by-case basis. In other words, judges are not bound to follow a chart to calculate how much alimony payments will be. Judges consider several factors when determining whether to award alimony and, if so, how much alimony to award.
That said, Washington will generally recognize a foreign divorce under the legal principal of comity, assuming certain conditions are met. For example, if the parties live in Canada but they file for and obtain a divorce in Mexico, a Washington court will very likely not recognize the Mexican divorce.
You are not legally obligated to support her. If a divorce is filed the court could make alimony retroactive.
