Is marital fault considered when determining alimony in Oklahoma?

In the state of Oklahoma not all divorce cases result in one party paying alimony to the other. Generally it is only paid if it is a condition both marriage partner's agreed to in the settlement process in an uncontested divorce, or the court has made the decision that it be paid in the case of a contested divorce. When it comes to deciding the amount of alimony that must be paid, several factors are weighed in process that lead to a reasonable financial amount and period of time. These factors include the financial resources available to each partner, the person to whom child custody will be awarded, the potential job opportunities for the spouse who will receive the alimony and the distribution make up of the marital assets.

The types of alimony available in the state of Oklahoma vary and are awarded based on some of these same factors.  The alimony types include:

• Rehabilitative Alimony which is paid to younger spouses who still have the opportunity to develop marketable job skills after a certain amount of time during which they can complete an educational or training program. In this situation there is a set time limit for the spouse based on the time it will take them to become self-sufficient.
• Temporary Alimony is provided to needy spouses during the divorce process through the courts. After the divorce decree temporary alimony is adjusted according to the court's final decision based on what it sees as necessary.
• Permanent Alimony is only awarded in rare situations. It means that alimony is paid indefinitely until one of the spouses passes away.
• Lump Sum Alimony. According to Oklahoma law lump sum alimony can be paid out in either a single one-time payment or spread out over a pre-designed period of time.

When it comes to marital misconduct and the awarding of alimony in the state of Oklahoma, this is a subject that is taken very seriously and under advisement. Regardless of how financially unstable the spouse might be, it is possible to have no alimony awarded if it is found that the receiving spouse was involved in a serious misconduct (adultery, etc) during the course of the marriage. The opposite might also be true, in the case of the paying-spouse.  If he/she was involved in a great deal of misconduct, he/she may have to pay a larger amount in alimony, particularly if this misconduct was shown to have led to the dissolution of the marriage.