Have you gone through a divorce and don’t want to pay alimony? Here are tips on how to avoid alimony:

Draft a prenup

Suppose you have a lot of property you would love to protect, before you get into marriage, you should draft a prenuptial agreement and ask your spouse to sign it. To put together a watertight agreement, work with experienced divorce lawyers.

A prenup includes full disclosure of your income and each partner’s assets in the union.

The agreement also lays out exactly which marital property belongs to whom.

You should put together this document before you get to marriage. However, if you didn’t and still want to protect yourself, you should create a postnuptial agreement containing the same information you would find in a prenuptial agreement but you complete and make it final after finalizing the marriage.

To avoid paying alimony, discuss with your spouse and offer them a larger share of the marital assets, a larger chunk of your retirement accounts, or even your marital home.

Besides this, maintain an open line of communication with your spouse so that you can address their needs and wants with ease.

Prove your spouse was adulterous

Although alimony laws vary from one state to the other, most states don’t allow unfaithful spouses to vie for alimony payments. Unfortunately, you can’t just say that your spouse was unfaithful, and you are exempted from paying alimony—you have to prove that they were truly unfaithful.

How do you prove it?

You should have photos and videos ready. It also doesn’t hurt having witness statements and other incriminating evidence showing your spouse having an affair.

Prove that they don’t need the alimony

Some spouses will demand alimony payments not because they need the money, but as a way to be vindictive and punish you.

If you are sure that your spouse doesn’t need the money, you should present evidence in court, and you might get away with paying alimony.

Does your ex have a large sum of money, such as a trust or stock portfolio? Do they have a savings account or an inheritance? You should put the necessary documents in place to prove this.

If you have a hunch that your spouse might be hiding some money, consider hiring a forensic accountant to help with tracking down the assets so that you can present them in court.

Show that you can’t pay

You can avoid paying alimony by showing that you can’t afford to pay it in the first place. If you have a form of disability and are incapable of earning your bread and butter, you should show it in court.

If you lost a job or your business can’t support your spouse’s amount, put together the relevant documents and show them in court.

Downgrade your lifestyle

The lower-earning spouse always receives alimony, so if you earn a lot and don’t want to pay alimony, you can downsize your lifestyle to get out of the net.

One way to go about it is to take a lower-paying job. If you have a business, start taking a lower salary and live frugally.

You should note that you should be strategic about how you go about it so that it’s not too obvious that you are changing your lifestyle because you want to get out of paying alimony. To have an easier time, work with reputable spousal support lawyers Fairfax VA to guide you on what you should and shouldn’t do.