Spousal support
Money one spouse pays the other after a marriage ends. Some states call it alimony, some maintenance.
What it means
Spousal support is a payment from one former spouse to the other, ordered or agreed when a marriage ends. The three names for it, spousal support, alimony and maintenance, are largely a matter of which state you are in.
It is decided separately from the division of property, and on different considerations: broadly, what each person needs and can earn rather than what each person owns.
It is also the term a marital agreement is most likely to be judged differently on. States commonly treat a waiver of support as raising questions a waiver of property rights does not.
Why it matters
It is one of the main things a premarital or marital agreement is written to address, and one of the few where what a state requires before it will enforce the term can differ from the rest of the agreement.
It is also the provision most likely to matter to the person who stepped back from paid work, which is why both people need to understand it before signing.
When you are likely to meet it
- When negotiating a premarital or marital agreement.
- When one partner expects to leave work, cut hours or relocate for the other's career.
How this varies by state
What a state calls it, how it is decided, and what a state requires before it will enforce an agreement that waives it are all state law and differ. Sahvelo has read no state's rules on waivers of spousal support.
Below is how the states Sahvelo has published describe it, in their own words, each linked to the guide that sources it.
South Carolina
Infrastructure maintenance fee
South Carolina's substitute for sales tax on most vehicles: 5% of the purchase price, but no more than $500. The Department says most vehicles owe it instead of sales tax, and that it will generally determine which of the two applies depending on the type of vehicle. How it is treated on a transfer after a death is not established, and Sahvelo states nothing about that.
Primary source (opens in a new tab) South Carolina DMV — buying or selling a car