Texas has passed HB 901 effective September 1, 2011 making substantive changes to the Texas Spousal Maintenance statute.

The new statute identifies that the requesting spouse no longer needs to prove that he or she is unable to support him or herself through appropriate employment; being employed or able to be employed is not the issue. The new standard is whether the requesting spouse is unable to earn sufficient income to provide for the spouse's minimum reasonable needs. You need not seek employment counseling.

The prior statute stated that the duration of payments could not be ordered for more than three years after the date of the order. The new change is similar to a sliding scale based on the length of the marriage. The duration of the payments can be up to 5 years if you were married between 10 and 20 years, 7 years, if you were married between 20 and 30 years and 10 years of maintenance if the marriage is longer than 30 years. The limit of the payments is raised from $2500 or 20% of gross income, whichever is less to $5,000 or 20% of gross income, whichever is less.

Section 8.051(1) has been changed to reflect that the family violence referenced in the statute applies in cases where the violence occurred against the spouse during the marriage, not before marriage. Under the occurrence of family violence criteria, there is no examination as to whether the requesting spouse lacks sufficient property to provide for their minimum reasonable needs.

The ability to enforce payments by contempt of court has changed. There is no contempt for lack of payment of spousal maintenance if the length of time agreed upon exceeds the length of time that the court could have ordered. For example, say you enter into an agreed order with your spouse and you both agree to pay a sum for longer than the court could have ordered. When the paying spouse does not pay, the lack of payment for the amounts past the time the court could have ordered cannot be enforced by contempt. Those payments can still be enforced as contractual. These are major changes to an old statute and if you believe it may affect you, you should consult with a family law attorney.