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Entitlement to maintenance

David Siegel: Sure. What I'm holding is typically a 25 to 30 page document which is the judgment for dissolution which contains the marital settlement agreement, and often a joint-parenting agreement wrapped up in there, and basically this is the document that's going to bind these two once the marriage is dissolved. Let's run through some of the typical terms and how important they are. First the judgment, first couple pages are going to lay out the facts for the case, who the Chicago parties are, what the grounds are, if there's any children—

Jesse Barrientes: Jurisdiction.

David Siegel: Right, those kinds of items. Now we go in to the crux of it. One of the most important items is maintenance, formerly known as alimony. Maintenance is a key issue. The judges want to hear about this in every case to see what the agreement is. Can you elicit some information about maintenance, formerly known as alimony?

Jesse Barrientes: Well generally what happens with respect to that, that's one of the terms. It's either waived by both parties, or waived by one party, or it can even be reserved, for example—

David Siegel: Can you explain to the layman what waived means?

Jesse Barrientes: Waived means that you can't come in to court. If I waive my right to receive maintenance from somebody, that means I can't formally – that means I can't come in to this court or any other court and at any other time in the future for maintenance, which is not for child support. It is for support of the other spouse. Sometimes there's reviewable maintenance, which essentially means that over a period of time that the court is going to review it and see whether or not that person has taken any steps to better themselves, or to put themselves in a situation that's going to help them make a better income, and they're going to also see whether or not that person is in need of maybe more or less.

David Siegel: When would someone be entitled to maintenance? What if we have a short term marriage in the two or three year range, and both parties are making the same amount of money and they have no children? Would maintenance be in order?

Jesse Barrientes: Maintenance is probably not going to happen. They take in to consideration a whole bunch of other factors. They take in to consideration the duration of marriage. They take in to consideration of course the respective positions of the parties. They take in to consideration the type of lifestyle that the parties enjoyed during the course of the marriage. If you were married to somebody, and they were a millionaire, and maybe it was even a three year marriage, and we jetted down to California, and then maybe to Vegas, and then maybe to Europe on an average basis, and that was our lifestyle, well then there's a possibility that I might receive that.

David Siegel: Coincidentally, Hugh Heffner today officially filed for divorce. He's been separated from his wife – one door apart, actually, right next door.

Jesse Barrientes: That's still a separation.

David Siegel: It is.

Jesse Barrientes: Often it's a door.

David Siegel: For the past 11 years. They had an agreement where anything beyond four years, he had to pay X amount of dollars per year while they were married in terms of a pre-marital agreement. I guess in this case, or in many cases, it pays to marry rich, stay married, because the longer the marriage and the wealthier the spouse, or the greater the disparity, your greater chance of getting maintenance, even on a long term basis.

Jesse Barrientes: I don't know, Dave. Again, a little old fashioned. I think you should marry for love. It's one of God's unions, and it says whomever God puts together, let no one tear asunder. You know, if you're getting married for money, boy, it's the wrong reason.

David Siegel: You don't think Anna Nicole Smith was in love with that Marshall gentlemen?

Jesse Barrientes: I have no idea.

David Siegel: Okay. Little bit of an age difference.

Jesse Barrientes: Just a little.

David Siegel: About 50 years. Anyway, maintenance is a key factor.

Jesse Barrientes: Love is blind, Dave.

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