Today attorney Michelle Kniess shares her knowledge of Spousal Maintenance/ Alimony in Minnesota and Wisconsin on Doing Divorce Different.  Whether you are working together with your spouse through the mediation process (or needing an attorney to advise) Spousal Maintenance is an important issue in many divorces.  Michelle says when clients come to her to learn about spousal maintenance they need to review and decide the amount, the duration and whether or not it is modifiable.  

Each Spousal Maintenance situation is very unique. There are many factors in determining spousal maintenance.  Some of them are:  the length of the marriage, the earning capacity, and the standard of living during the marriage.  Courts always want the person receiving maintenance to help themselves to the extent they can when support is an issue.  Michelle stated it beautifully when she talked about what your plan was during your marriage.  Was one party planning to stay home more with the children while the other built their career.  All of these factors affect how Spousal Maintenance is determined.

The bottom line, it is based on the need of one party and the resources of the paying party.  When I work through mediations with clients we begin with each parties budget and what they think their future budget will be.  Then we look at what each parties net income is.  Once we have this we have a better understanding of what one party needs and what the other can afford.

Michelle Kniess devotes her entire practice to family law in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Her practice focuses on divorce, custody and parenting time, spousal maintenance, child support, and property valuation and division, including business interests. Michelle practiced as a business litigation attorney prior to pursuing a career in family law. She owned and managed a boutique family law practice for nearly nine years prior to joining Hellmuth & Johnson. Michelle brings many years of experience and a vast knowledge of family law, in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, to Hellmuth & Johnson.

Michelle received her Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2005 and her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2002.  Find Michelle at:

Website