Alimony and child support, although similar in that they are both designed to fairly divide marital money to save the parties and their children from economic disaster, are calculated differently and serve different purposes.  No matter what the outcome, both parties will probably need to make substantial adjustments to their way of life to succeed post-divorce.

How much child support is required?

If your marriage did not yield children, move to the next section.  Child support is calculated based upon guidelines set up under the New Jersey Rules of Court.  Support may vary for families below the poverty level or with gross earnings above $150,800.  Shared parenting kicks in when the non-custodial parent (the one the kids don't live with--usually the Dad) takes the kids overnight more than 103 days a year.  Support is affected by the number of children, the ages of the children, children of previous marriages (or relationships) that need support, by whether the custodial-parent (the one the kids do live with--usually the Mom) works and pays for day-care, which parent pays health insurance for the kids, etc.  There is more to it than just "who earns the most."  To make matters even more confusing, if a Mom gets alimony, that counts as income, and may serve to lower the child support Dad has to pay.

How much alimony is required?

Alimony is calculated based on statutory criteria, set up by our legislature, which are wide open to judicial interpretation.  In other words--the outcome is much harder to predict than child support.  Here are the factors:

 -need and ability of parties to pay
 -length of marriage (the longer it was, the better the chances for alimony)
 -age and health
 -lifestyle during the marriage
 -ability of the parties to earn based on education and employability
 -if one parent gave up working for sake of the marriage
 -training needed to reenter the workforce and future potential to earn
 -contributions of each person to the marriage (financial and non-financial)
 -how the property of the marriage was divided
 -anything else you can convince (or that) the Court (chooses) to consider

Disclaimer: This information is provided as a service to you.  Advice of an attorney licensed to practice law in New Jersey should be sought before attempting to rely on these materials.